Thought for the Week, August 25 2023

Knee jerk reactions

 

Like many people in the modern world, I have discovered that with the working life demanding more screen time and phone use, your body seizes up.

 

I have to be more proactive in reversing those imposed sedentary periods of a day. The dog walks are no longer enough. I find myself having to stretch this and that to make a difference. Sound familiar?

 

We know our bodies are intricately connected but it was a real surprise to me to learn that to manage a meniscus tear in the knee, exercising the muscle groups in the backside and the calf brought more relief than exercising the knee itself.

 

“Who knew?” Well, lots of people did - but I didn’t.

 

I was looking at the symptom; the experts helped me to look at a wider picture. In so many incidences, we knee jerk without asking: “What is really going on here?”

 

For the clinician, the presenting problem may be just the symptom of an underlying cause and it’s also often true for our own reactions to people and incidents.

 

Being better self-aware is to ask: “Why did I react so...or feel so... to what was said or done?”

 

Psalm 139 says we are “intricately and wonderfully made”. That helps me to be patient with myself and with others. It reminds me that because of our wonderful intricacies, solutions can be intricate, not always a quick fix or knee jerk, to our struggles.

 

It helps me to be more patient with myself and with others.

 

This week, when you find yourself knee jerking to something or someone, take stock and pause.

 

A pause might change the day.

 

Reverend Chris Holden, The Fishermen's Mission.