Paradigm Shift
In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki noted how the fear of public speaking for most people, is a fear greater than death. Kiyosaki said some psychiatrists believe the fear of public speaking is caused by the fear of ostracism, which is the fear of standing out. Our fear of being different is what prevents most of us from seeking new ways of living. It is the fear of ostracism that makes us conform and not question commonly accepted opinions in society, school, religion, politics, modern medicine….
As such, we will be talking about paradigm shift, why it is needed in society and ourselves. This is a topic I am deeply passionate about. The research for this topic started 4-years-ago when I wasn’t aware of the power of my thoughts and mental activity. Curiosity, confusion, being sick and tired of being sick and tired pushed me to see how we have been programmed to believe the world we see is real and we are victims of who knows what.
1. Let’s look at the fixed mindset in today’s medical approach which is detrimental. I recently read two similar case studies from the American Psychiatric Association.
A. Paraphrasing the first case study by William C. Wood, M.D., At 10, Wyatt was diagnosed with ADHD. By the time he turned 12 Wyatt is said to be generally moody and irritable with episodes of being a "raging monster". Wyatt once smashed a closet door open to get access to a video game that was withheld from him so he can do his homework. He again lost in a chess match and punched another boy in the face.
B. The second study by Loes Jongerden, M.A. and Susan B?gels, PhD is about another 12-year-old boy named Logan who began to suffer from anxieties as a child in kindergarten with separation difficulties. He was referred to mental health care for long-standing anxiety about losing his parents and recent fears of getting a severe disease. Logan watched a television show about rare and fatal diseases. He became scared he might have a hidden disease. His parents reported three panic attacks in one month.
2. Now, I am not saying there is nothing wrong with these kids but obviously, we need an important change in the usual way we think is normal behaviour. The issue here is, who really knows what a normal behavior is?
The problem here is most of us are just following the crowd with no idea who we are or where we are going. We don’t even know if there is a place to go. We get told how to speak, think, act. What if we were free to be and not worry about what our parents want, what is right or wrong per our cultures and religions?
II. This is where knowing our paradigms as humanity comes in.
1. Bob Proctor of Proctor and Gallagher Institute said, “A paradigm is a mental program that has almost exclusive control over our habitual behaviour. And… almost all our behaviour is habitual”. I used to blame everyone about everything that happened in my life. It never occurred to me to turn inwards and see the idea I had of myself. Until I begam to change the way I look at things.
A. The world needs a paradigm shift badly in schools, organizations, corporations and most importantly in politics and religion.
a. Another one of my virtual mentors, Sir Ken Robinson a creativity expert, challenges the education system. Sir Ken believes “we need to rethink our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence”. In one of his Ted talks, he explained why we don’t get the best out of people. Sir Ken argues that “we get educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies; far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity, are ignored or even branded with terrible consequences. Students like Wyatt and Logan
b. Going back to Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, said something I want to share with you. Robert said, “There is an old cliché that goes “Job is an acronym for Just Over Broke. Unfortunately, this applies to millions of people. Because our schools and organizations do not think financial intelligence is intelligence, most workers live within their means. They work and pay bills. Another management theory Robert said is, "Workers work hard enough to not get fired, and owners pay just enough so workers won’t quit”.
c. In Encyclopedia of Management 7th Edition, Sonya D. Hill explained that “a paradigm shift is often begun by a paradigm crisis, this happens when the current understanding of any situation is not satisfactory to explain events. It pushes people to begin seeking new explanations to explain events more accurately. The crisis is resolved when a new model is created that explains current events and knowledge so well it becomes accepted by the masses.”
How can we shift our paradigm? How do get off the bus and stop drinking the juice?
III. One way I find that has helped me see through this veil is self-inquiry. Which is basically looking into the nature of who we are.
1. As one of the attendees of Mooji’s Satsang described self-inquiry, he said, “It is not a teaching but a pointing. A teaching requires someone to learn whilst a pointing is seeing directly what is already here”.
A. You might be wondering what is a Satsang? As a former monk, Jon Bernie describes Satsang “as being or sitting in truth. It is an environment where we begin to discover our mutual interconnected beingness, it is an energetic place that inquire into the nature of our mindsets and conditioning”.
Before I go back to my sit, I want to share something my grandmother was fond of saying. That “charity begins at home”. To understand the human nature, we must first understand ourselves.
That change comes with a paradigm shift, that change comes when we find ourselves, that change comes when we know who we are.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Image paradigmshiftleadership.com/3-things-i-learned-at-nccep/
Sellars-Mulhern, PhD. Associate Professor/Department of Student Life. Counseling Psychologist.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapist/Coach. BMCC
Kiyosaki T, Robert. Rich Dad Poor Dad. United States: Plata Publishing 1997. Print.
Pritchett, Price. You2. Pritchett LP.
Dweck S, Carol. Mindset; The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books Trade. 2006. Print.
Hill D, Sonya. Encyclopedia of Management (7th ed.). Gale, a Cengage Company. 2012.
go-gale-com.bmcc.ezproxy.cuny.edu
David L. Corwin, Victor Vieth. Resources to Advance ACEs Knowledge and Paradigm Shift. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. 2017.
link-springer-com.bmcc.ezproxy.cuny.edu/article
Barnhill W, John. DSM-5 Clinical Cases. American Psychiatric Association.
Proctor, Bob. Paradigm Shift.
https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/events/paradigm-shift
Bernie Jon. What is Satsang? Youtube. 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUDNZSynlvc