The seven-year switch

I've heard it said that the human body is almost competely renewed every seven years. In the natural process of new cells replacing old ones, it transpires that the entire physical self is pretty much made over by the time the Earth has gone around the sun seven times.

I think something similar happens on the metaphysical level, too. When I look back to seven years ago, around the time I arrived in Toronto to get a fresh start in life, I note that almost all my ideas, my philosophies, my ways of living, have emerged from a seven year cycle renewed in just the way my body has. There is still continuity, because the changes don't all happen at once. So it's not that my ideas have taken a radical shift since that time. It's just that I see them evolving and changing in a natural way, just like my physical body does. And since the arbitrary date of January 1, 1997 was the beginning of a new way of living for me, the recent completion of a seven-year cycle has got me thinking about where the track leads after the seven-year switch.

It seems to me that both the physical and metaphysical aspects of an individual life are subject to some of the same basic laws: for example, in both cases you must respect the limits of what your body, or your mind, or your soul can actually cope with, physically or karmically. And both aspects are affected by experience and by time - you age, but you also mature, both physically and metaphysically. And in both regards, you can deliberately target things you'd like to work on, and hope to make a difference by the time the next seven-year switch has come to an end.

In both cases, deliberate action makes a big difference. If I want to trim down, or firm up my body, I can't just wish it to be so and expect results. I need to do pushups, go running, play hockey, etc. Likewise, if I want to live more in tune with nature and hear the divine will more audibly, I must exercise my soul, as it were. I have to actually make a deliberate attempt to get into the woods, or to meditate, or to do kind works, or whatever.

Lately I've been doing the excruciating work of seeking a vision for the next stretch of my life, however long it may be. Slowly that vision has been coming together, providing me with a compass that will guide me along. But I am reminded by observing my physical self that my mental, emotional and spiritual goals are going to have to be methodically worked into place, using processes that are not so different from exercise routines. On the one hand, I can't expect immediate results - that's not nature's way. On the other hand, I am assured by what I've observed in life so far that any persistent effort is inevitably rewarded with results.

As I look seven years down the road (naming an arbitrary number again) I think I can grasp the key difference between hope, and faith, and practice. Hope is what allows you to dream up what you want to be in the first place. Faith is determining that you can get there. And practice is what actually gets you there. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice...

I'm a simple person. I like simple formulas. I won't bore you with my New Year's resolutions, but rest assured, this simple formula is how I'll be making them come true.