Why you must ask ‘How?’
Have you ever been surprised how language can throw a conversation?
Has a book surprised you by how it was written? Do you wonder how a painting was created or how an invention was realised?
Every day I find myself intrigued; bamboozled by unanswered how’s. For example, how am I here writing this, my finger movements transformed into words which somehow miraculously appear on a screen through the magic of one single blue-tooth, that I never have to brush. And then a few more transmissions and it’s here in front of you, wherever you are in your world, being transformed in your brain into something, perhaps meaningful, that you might be able to recycle into something more elaborate or even extraordinary……And then, just as easily, you can press the little trash can button, and it’s gone’ forever into the toternity (yes Mr Spell-Check, I made that word up) of cyberspace, perhaps never to be seen again.
I have been thinking a lot about my past over the last few months. Why did I take this career path, why didn’t I do better here, or why didn’t I make ‘x’ or ‘y’ happen. Then I realised, I get unhelpfully stuck on asking ‘why?’. Whether in the future, present or past, ‘why’ seems to bring with it some sort of convergent, negative curiosity. And then I’m lost, in some baron wasteland of inescapable rumination.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not an anti-’why-ist’: I’m sure I can learn a lot from past mistakes, present difficulties and future pitfalls. ‘Why’ is a very powerful word. But, invariably it comes with baggage. It needs treating with respect and humility. ‘Why’ might ask us for validation of its emotional consequences.
But do we have time to dwell on ‘why’? As we dwell on why food does not reach the hungry, why the oppressed are not heard, why the world is unfair, our resources sit unused in some distant metaphorical or literal warehouse waiting to be discovered by one simple utterance:
‘How?’
‘How’ brings with it an almost prospective curiosity, a divergent thinking:
‘How can I make change? How did I do that? How will I do this?’
So when faced with the person marooned in uncertainty; knowledge without direction, need without sustenance, solution without change, pain without relief, should we actually be asking ‘how’ instead of ‘why’, planning rather than analysing?
When you next meet a person in pain, a person who has experienced injury, a person who has survived trauma, by all means respect and spend a little time in the baron world of ‘whys’, but don’t forget to guide them just a few steps away. To a world of opportunity and plenty. The world of “How’.
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Martin Sands is an experienced Chartered Physiotherapist working in the Musculoskeletal and rehabilitation field. He is interested in how learning and education can develop the profession further.
