Written by: Andrew Cowie, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
A decade ago, my world was in flames and falling apart around me. Burnt out by years of sustained stress in my job as a newspaper journalist, I was physically, mentally, and psychologically broken and could see no possible route back towards the light. Little could I have guessed at the time just how dramatically things would eventually change for the better.
My story is far from unique. Few people can have emerged from the last decade completely unscathed from the catastrophic effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and its resulting impact on employment and lifestyles.
Swingeing job cuts, sweeping austerity measures, and the rapid pace of technological change, combined with a global pandemic, uncertainty over Brexit, and an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable political landscape, have created a culture of deep-rooted fear and insecurity and a resulting mental health tsunami.
Thankfully there is hope amidst all this doom and gloom. Sometimes a traumatic tearing down of old dysfunctional systems and institutions is necessary in order to clear the way for authentic, lasting change. Even during the turbulent events of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the seeds of a new and better world planted through the selfless actions of the millions of key workers who’ve risked their own lives and health to keep the world running throughout an unprecedented global lockdown.
Health care professionals, shop workers, and other essential service providers have gone the extra mile to minimize disruption to our lives, while video-conferencing apps such as Skype and Zoom have enabled us to stay connected with loved ones, reach out to the vulnerable, and find new, smarter ways of working. Sometimes it takes a genuine crisis to shake us out of our complacency and force us to consider alternatives to our traditional way of life.
My optimism is fuelled by personal experience. Ten years on from my own apocalyptic mental health crisis, I couldn’t be happier. My life has been renewed, refreshed, recharged, and reinvigorated in every possible way. I have a new job, running my own life coaching and therapy company, using my personal experiences as a springboard to help others recover from adversity and achieve their full potential.
The turnaround in my personal fortunes has been so dramatic that it’s been tantamount to a total rebirth. But in order to be reborn, I first had to allow part of myself to die. I needed to surrender to the process of having my entire world torn asunder so that I could rebuild anew.
I realized that the transformation I had been through was the exact process our ancestors had symbolized by way of the legend of the phoenix, hence the reason why I adopted the mythical firebird as the symbol for my business Phoenix Coaching & Therapy.
As an archetypal icon of death and resurrection, the phoenix represents our innate capacity to regenerate ourselves and produce new life out of the ashes of the old. We all have this capability, even if we haven’t realized it yet. It’s a transcendent experience, known in the east as yoga and to the western world as alchemy.
The symbolism of the phoenix is as old as time, and its influence can be found worldwide. Relatively few people are aware that the supposed "eagle" featured on the Great Seal of the United States was in fact originally intended to be a phoenix, sending out a supraliminal message of the "New World" (America) arising out of the ashes of the Old (the British Empire). In recent years this ancient symbol has undergone something of a renaissance in popular culture, thanks in no small measure to the inclusion of Professor Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes in J.K. Rowling's blockbuster Harry Potter franchise.
In mythology, a phoenix dies by bursting into flames before being reborn, rising triumphantly from the ashes of its predecessor. Most of us have at some time or other undergone a life-altering experience, whether that be depression, anxiety, or a traumatic event. Such circumstances often result in a breaking down of old dysfunctional patterns of living and thinking.
At the time that it happens, the breaking down of the old can be hugely traumatic, devastating, and destructive. Like the phoenix bursting dramatically into flames at the end of its life-cycle, it can seem like literally the end of the world. And in a sense, it is. It’s the end of an old-world, old way of thinking and acting, old, outdated methods of living and working, and old relationships which no longer serve you.
It could be that you’ve lost your job, that marriage or long-standing friendship has ended, or that circumstances are forcing you to make a geographical move about which you’re uncertain. Such changes are natural sources of anxiety and apprehension. Letting go of the past can be extremely difficult and frequently involves a significant emotional wrench. But sometimes, it’s unavoidable.
In my own case, it was my job that had to go. This was no easy decision. I’d been a journalist for twenty years – the whole of my working life – and it was all I knew. To have to change direction at my time of life seemed unthinkable. The risks and dangers involved in a career change seemed to outweigh any potential benefits, causing me to stay in a job that was slowly but surely killing me through stress.
Eventually, the realization hit home that the newspaper industry had changed beyond recognition from the job I’d trained for two decades earlier. Advances in technology, combined with massive changes in the way in which people chose to get their news, meant that print journalists were a dying breed. The choice facing me was simple. I could either stay in a job that was making me even more ill by the day or get out and do something else with my life.
I chose the latter, and it proved to be the best decision I ever made. Walking away was traumatic. My whole world came crashing down. But out of the ashes of the destruction of my old world were laid the foundations of a new life. The old had to be cleared out to make way for the new. And I’ve never looked back.
There is an inherent danger in human nature that we tend to cling to the old for the sake of comfort and security – whether that be an old shirt, a job, a habit, or a relationship – but sometimes we have to recognize that change is necessary for growth. One of the keys to lasting change and happiness is to be prepared to let go of everything you think you need. Buddhists refer to this as “freeing oneself from attachments,” but it’s a concept that can be found echoed throughout all faiths and cultures worldwide.
Have you ever wondered why spring cleaning feels so satisfying? Purging ourselves of unneeded old possessions provides us with a buzz because we’re severing attachment to things that no longer serve us, in much the same way as the human body sheds dead cells.
Take a look in your wardrobe. Is it full of old clothes that you haven’t worn in years and never will again? It’s human nature to try to cling to these things because of the memories associated with them, but in truth, this is simply keeping you chained to the past and unable to move forward with your life.
Do yourself a favor and have a proper clear-out. You can give your old clothes to a charity shop or to someone who really needs them. Not only will this make you feel good, but you’ll have created loads of extra space in your cupboards and freed yourself from attachments. Try it now. It’s surprisingly liberating.
If you're not getting the results that you want, then take a good look at your life to see if there's some piece of redundant baggage that hasn't been jettisoned. We must have the courage to let go of the past, to allow the old to “die” in order to clear the space for potentially exciting new chapters in our lives. This is the message of the phoenix.
Andrew Cowie, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Andrew Cowie is a transformational life coach, psychotherapist, and author dedicated to helping people overcome adversity and achieve their full potential. He came to the world of therapy after a 20-year career in newspaper journalism was brought to an abrupt end by severe burnout. In the course of his own recovery, he was introduced to meditation, mindfulness, hypnotherapy, yoga, martial arts, and NLP. He went on to retrain under some of the world's leading spiritual and personal development teachers to become an expert in these fields. Andrew has since dedicated his life to passing on this knowledge, synthesizing the various disciplines into one overarching system blending ancient spiritual practices with the latest cutting-edge techniques from the field of modern psychology. He is the owner of Phoenix Coaching & Therapy and the founder of its associated 'magical training school' The Ancient and Mystical Hermetic Order of the Phoenix (AMHOP). His debut book Rise Like a Phoenix, was published in 2021 and is described as a manual for personal regeneration. Andrew works with clients worldwide and is passionate about mental health and exploring the latent potential of the human mind.
