One of the things I enjoy most about being self-employed is the freedom to arrange my work hours around the things I enjoy doing in life, instead of the other way round. Over the past couple of weeks, this has meant I’ve been able to watch a few matches in the Women’s World Cup (currently taking place in Australia and New Zealand – meaning most matches are televised live during the morning here in the UK).
I’m sure it’s far from an original thought that a game of football provides an analogy for life, but some aspects have occurred to me which demonstrate the principles of the Enactive Paradigm (which underpins Solution Focused practice) in action.
The Enactive Paradigm can be described as a philosophical framework which emphasises the idea that cognition is not solely a product of the mind but arises through the dynamic interactions between an individual and their environment (including their social environment).
In football, every player acts with agency, making decisions based on the current state of the game and their perception of the environment. Similarly, in life, we are agents responsible for shaping our destinies. Just like footballers on the pitch, we constantly interact with our surroundings, adapting our choices based on the feedback we receive. Our experiences, relationships, and surroundings contribute to our understanding of the world, shaping our actions and decisions.
As a spectator watching a game of football, what this looks like is a complex dance in which two teams move around each other, maintaining a constantly adapting formation and shape, whilst individual players shine at different points as they respond to the changing circumstances around them, playing a more noticeable or more subtle role in the teams progress towards their collective destiny. In a similar way, everything an individual does in their life has greater or lesser significance in the context of what the collectives of people they are connected with are striving for (these could be family units, teams of work colleagues, neighbours, even scaling all the way up to inhabitants of the same planet). It’s always done in response to whatever they’ve noticed other people doing, and therefore influences the responses of other people.
Footballers don’t merely strategize in their minds; they learn through embodiment. Skilful play emerges from the integration of mind and body. This is because in life, too, we gain knowledge and understanding through embodied experiences. From childhood to adulthood, we interact with the world, gathering information through our senses, and refining our responses. As a result, what we and others notice about the way in which we’re physically doing whatever we’re doing (walking, talking, using our phone, getting out of bed, driving etc. etc.) provides reliable indicators of when we’re ‘on track’/’doing well’/’at our best’ and so on.
In football and in life, we set and pursue goals, while adapting in response to challenges. We are constantly evolving, shaping our understanding through our interactions with the world around us.
The unexpected happens often, both in disappointing and pleasing ways, serving as a constant reminder that anything is possible. Thousands of years of evolution, honed survival instincts and interconnectedness are on display on a football pitch, providing an opportunity to ‘step back’ and admire innate human capacity. No wonder we call it ‘the beautiful game’!
Keep Calm and Solution Focused 