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Getting Off The Couch
by Major Pete Brookshaw

An excerpt from Major Peter Brookshaw’s book, “Who am I to change the world?”

If you want to change the world, you have to get off the couch.

There, I’ve said it. I’ve laid it out right from the outset. You cannot change the world sitting on the couch. You may well read this book on the couch, but you cannot implement its ideas by staying on the couch. This book is about growth. It’s about looking at core principles that will help identify ways to grow and develop into the person you are meant to be.

In essence, this book is about getting off the metaphorical couch of mediocrity and taking life by the horns and changing the world. I believe that God has placed within everyone the capability to do something significant and life on earth is so short, so let’s start on it now. The days are too limited to be coasting through the years without identifying how we can take the opportunities before us so we can grow far beyond where we are now in our spirit, mind and body capacities to make a positive difference in our world.

But before I go any further, what has all this got to do with the couch? The couch is a metaphor. A picture that helps us identify that we are not necessarily reaching our full potential in life. Imagine with me for a moment that you have finally arrived at work, but you were 10 minutes late because of bad traffic. You excuse yourself from this because you know for the last six days you’ve been working around the clock trying to finish off paperwork for the boss. You happen to run into an employee on the way to your desk who snaps at you, “Where have you been? We can’t all have a nice sleep-in around here!” Your heart sinks, and you feel the anger rising. You escape to your desk and slump into the chair. You spend the next 45 minutes producing absolutely nothing of value for the company.

What’s happened? Well, you’ve escaped or collapsed on the couch, and it captures you. You settle in because the couch is comforting and doesn’t expect anything back from you.

For me, couch sitting or couch escapism, has been a common occurrence during my life. I have a gruelling day at work. I sit on the couch. I buy the latest technology and digress to the couch. I hear of a new show on television and diverge to the couch. I have an argument at work, and I slump on the couch. I get discouraged from seeing a lack of success and I find myself stuck on the couch.

The challenges of life draw us to the couch. You know what I mean? When life gets difficult we prefer to slump on the couch rather than proactively make necessary changes. We may not be on a literal couch, but we may be wandering around the office with our mind all over the place, or we may be driving and find our mind performing mental gymnastics. We may be thinking about those addictions we’ve been trying to conquer. We may be organising a holiday to get away and escape to the beach for the next two weeks. At some point it all becomes too much, and we look for some respite – an escape – the couch!

When circumstances lead us to the couch, a danger is that we become more than casual couch-sitters being refreshed, instead we become stuck. We fall into a state of mediocrity. The full potential we have wastes away, encased by self-pity and typically helped along by a technologically induced coma. While playing with our phones or flicking through different streaming services and television stations, we orchestrate in our mind a rational defence for our lack of commitment and reasons that justify our insecurities, anxieties, fears and resistance.

We try to convince ourselves that it is more than warranted to be sitting on the couch. Phrases run through our heads like:

“But you should have heard what they said?!”

“They called me fat… Well, maybe I am. I guess I’ll never be a decent weight again.”

“I couldn’t possibly try that.”

“Who am I to do this?”

“I’ll never find a real job.”

While we’re couch-sitting, seemingly rationally considering whether we could do anything significant in life, we are missing out. While our response to derogatory comments about us may cause us to sit on the couch, it is our lack of physical, emotional and intellectual effort that causes us to stay in a vicious state of never having enough energy.

While we’re full of unforgiveness, bitterness, brokenness and anxiety, we prefer to wallow on the couch rather than engage with the world. When we fail to recognise the spiritual realities surrounding our existence and the presence of the Creator with us, we remain on the couch, and totally miss seeing and understanding God’s greater life purpose for us.

So, here’s the premise of the book – If you want to change the world, you have to get off the couch.

I hope you want to change the world. I hope you realise that you can be a world-changer. I know my book premise sounds like a lightweight cutesy catchphrase. But, for me, it’s not. I firmly believe that we are not meant to waste away our life by couch sitting. I also believe that we are called to do more in life than eat, drink and be merry. Bringing lasting joy, fulfillment, peace and care to the world doesn’t come through staying on the couch or by simply climbing the corporate ladder, making large sums of cash, paying off our mortgage and having great holidays.

When we look at the global environment in which we live we can see that the world needs changing. I’m excited to think that this book might at least play some small part in empowering someone to grab hold of their potential and the opportunities to run like crazy to an amazing people impacting finish line. Do you want to change the world – your immediate world, or even the wider world? If so, will you let me help you to get off the couch?

Remember, this couch is not a physical couch with nice soft cushioning and a bright red throw rug. It is the couch-sitting going on in our mind when we make rational excuses for not following through on something. It can be in our heart. We can be despairing and convincing ourselves that it’s justified. In the heat of our emotions we believe it’s okay to permanently reside in a place of comfort and security. Our couch can even be related to physical fitness. We have a day when we choose to eat pizza and absolutely destroy our fitness routine, which leads to us deciding on the next day that it is much easier to just give up.

If we are going to have a positive life influence it is vital that we stay off the metaphorical couch of mediocrity. I suggest that getting off the couch is to make a choice to ‘have a go’ and ‘make a difference’ and if we do this, then we are probably already starting to make life changes happen.

So, what’s stopping us? Well, it’s much easier to abdicate responsibility for something than to see it through to the end. It’s easier to sleep-in than wake up early for a morning fitness regime. It’s easier not to start a new initiative than it is to start one. Couch-sitting is easier!

This book is about finding ways to embrace life with focus, passion and wisdom and to find an integrated way to live it to the full. We are not created to be couch-sitters, but rather to be world-changers. Success doesn’t involve vegetating in any kind of couch. Even the person who invented the comfort bringing couch surely didn’t build it by sitting on it.

The world needs world-changers. We crave leadership in an age bereft of courageous, visionary people who motivate and inspire, and we also want the strong, capable, quiet achievers who complementarily lead from the second chair.

I am so sad when I see people choosing to slip into the background, not fully using their gifts and abilities, and waiting for someone else to do the job. I believe that every one of us is called to have a part in changing the world! Conversely, you may already be a highly educated, experienced, proactive go-getter who actively seeks to make a difference in the world. That is awesome. But there is something you need to know – the challenges of life will often drag you back to the couch.

Even after success we can end up on the couch. Even after a great day at work, we can come crashing down at home. The danger of prolonged couch-sitting is not just for the lazy. The danger exists for each of us because it is so easy to simply choose to no longer move forward. Here’s the thing about achieving our goals – sometimes we work so hard to reach them and when we do, we’re not sure what to do next, or we are worn out, so we resort to the couch. I mean, who wants to deal with more pressure and obstacles in the future? It is much easier to become emotionally detached and switch off our brain.

This book is about getting off the couch and staying off it. And I say this as someone who has had a fair share of time on the couch of life. One instance relates to my journey at university. I finished public high school with top marks in my year level. I headed off to the prestigious University of Melbourne and began a science degree. I fumbled my way through the crowds and regularly sat in historical libraries reading about electrons and protons and electromagnetic thing-a-ma-jigs (it’s been a while!). I lacked the hair of Albert Einstein, but had a passion for science, nonetheless.

During the first year I had found a girl and a new-found faith in God. I had a few friends around me who were praying that God would bless my studies. I remember those prayers vividly. Then, in my second year, I began to lose interest in science. Someone had turned off my Bunsen burner. In fact, following the four exams I completed, the results came in and, out of 100, I scored exam results that you wouldn’t tell your mother about. My world came crashing down. I remember the agonising slow motion glance at my results: 37, 42, 38, 41.

What had happened to me?! I used to be the smartest kid in town. I used to be the academic hotshot who never failed a test. Failing for me was getting a B-plus. Now I was at Melbourne University at the bottom of the food chain. Even the janitor was getting better marks than me!

I had a choice to make right then. Was I going to resort to the couch? I tell you, that would have been the easiest road. Turn on the TV, charge up my gaming console, eat lots of chocolate and kiss success goodbye. I could easily have switched off my mind, disengaged my heart, hardened my soul and put on loads of weight.

My parents suggested I study business. In fact, they had suggested that in the first place. Stay tuned for my next book, Why You Should Listen to Your Parents When They Give You Advice for What You Should Do with Your Life. I made the change. I left Melbourne University, waved the future doctors and lawyers goodbye and headed off to Victoria University.

I went on to complete a Bachelor of Business. It took me longer than usual, as it was a difficult transition. I did end up with science credits for a business degree. That will come in handy if I start selling tennis racquets. I can let them know about the velocity of the ball and gravitational potential energy of the racquet.

Here is the thing. Better to have finished late than not to have finished at all. Better to have resisted the urge to sit on the couch than say, “Woe is me”. I am called to change the world. I can’t do it sitting on the couch.

Even high achievers and self-starters can be knocked down and it is how we respond, and who we have on our side, that determines what happens next.

My greatest Speech

I have had opportunity for some important speeches over the years, but this one trumped them all. I remember it as if it was yesterday. We were inside a formal-looking dining area surrounded by gum trees visible from the floor-to-ceiling windows that surrounded the beautiful, serene conference centre. The water in the small swimming pool behind us glimmered in the night and the rock’n’roll band had just finished its second bracket of songs. I stood by my lovely, amazingly beautiful bride, with my tuxedo on and began to speak from the heart. Naturally, I spoke about my love for my wife and thanked those who had worked tirelessly to put on a great wedding night. Although, with sweaty palms and dry lips, I told family and friends something some were not expecting.

I stood in front of the crowd that night and spoke with emotion, with a little quiver in my voice. I told those gathered that we needed to love God with all our heart and soul, and all our mind and strength. We couldn’t do anything less, because Jesus had commanded us to. I got a little teary as I shared that when I chose to follow God in my late teen years those words from Jesus resonated in my life. God would have all there is of Pete Brookshaw. Nothing less. I eagerly said to the crowd – who I was convinced were already thinking about dessert and its impending arrival – that those words would characterise the rest of my life.

Sum It Up For Us, Jesus

So, it’s time to delve a little deeper into this couch analogy and look at an encounter with Jesus.

In a well-known story found in the Gospels, we read of religious leaders asking Jesus what is the greatest commandment in the Law. Only recently Jesus had put the religious leaders back in their place when he was answering a question about marital relationships after death. Now he was confronted with another tough question. How would he answer the religious elite on this one? I mean, what was the greatest commandment? Maybe he would simply say, “Well, all the laws are important, and we should follow them all. End of story. Thanks for the question.” However, he didn’t say that, in fact, Jesus had a radical answer for them.

The Jewish Law consists of the content of the following books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These books, called the Torah, pronounce with great authority the stories of creation, Noah and the flood, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, and the Exodus of the people of Israel under the leadership of Moses. Along with those stories of the great Patriarchs of the Old Testament, the books are full of rules and regulations, codes of conduct, advice on maintaining healthy relationships, and keeping a right relationship with God. The question was asked: Were any of the laws found within these texts any more important than another?

I am going to side-track just for a minute. If you were nice enough to a local police officer, you might be able to get him to print off a list of fineable offences related to, say, traffic rules. On that list you might find the following:

• Failure to stop at a red light

• Drinking while under the influence of alcohol

• Driving five kilometres an hour over the speed limit

• Overtaking when unsafe to do so

• Overstaying five minutes in a parking bay

• Failure to use an indicator when turning a corner

It is very clear that breaking the laws described above will have you needing to explain yourself. The laws exist for a reason – they exist for our safety and to provide us with direction and clarity. It is imperative that these laws are followed, as they are trusted, and proven laws handed down from generation to generation.

Are all the laws important? Yes. Are all the laws equally important? Well, that’s an interesting question.

When considering the above list of road safety infringements and comparing a five-minute parking infringement with drink driving, it is easy to see that not all laws are equal. These laws are important, sure, but they do not hold the same weight. We only have to watch the news for a few nights and we’re bound to hear a story of a fatality on the roads due to drink driving. It is ludicrous to suggest, however, that being a few minutes late back to the parked car is as dangerous as drink driving. So, from our example of the local police officer, we see that all laws are important, but not all are equally important.

Let’s turn back then to the religious leaders attempting to trap Jesus with their question. “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” It is overly simplistic and logically incomprehensible for Jesus to reply with, “They’re all great!” The religious group knows full well that there are definitely laws that hold more weight than others. While all the laws are important – they are not all equally important.

So, what was the greatest commandment? With the question on the table, Jesus chooses to say the following: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

This is complete gold! Look what Jesus has done here. He has taken the long list of laws that are vital to the Jewish faith, and he sums them up in two sentences. In fact, he condenses the first five books of the Old Testament by using two biblical passages. He then goes a step further and says that these two texts not only sum up the Law but sum up the words of the prophets as well.

Consider the significance of this for a moment. Can you think of the latest book you have read, and are you able to pluck out 9 two sentences, from the myriad of words, that sum up the entire book? Generally, this is a hugely difficult. A good book will have much to say and narrowing the focus to simply two sentences is quite often near impossible.

I found this out at university when the class was asked to do a 500-word book review on an in-depth business book. I remember chuckling to myself as I reflected on the small word count required. I mean, in comparison to 3000-word essays, surely a 500-word count would be a breeze! After reading the book, the task came to summarise the main points of the text. There was so much to say, so much to include and so much to acknowledge. Very quickly, I sensed that summarising a large business text in 500 words would not be easy. And if you asked me to summarise the book into two sentences, that would take me many hours!

Irrespective of our thoughts about Jesus, here we see a man who could sum up the essence of subjects with one sentence. What about these pearlers:

• “I am the light of the world.”

• “I am the bread of life.”

• “Come, follow me.”

• “Peter, do you love me?”

• “Seek first the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus had this uncanny ability to sum up his teaching into short bites that became memorable. He knew how to create simplicity. He would’ve been great on X if it had been around in his day. What Jesus was gifted at doing was creating simplicity from complexity. He takes complex theological writings, laws and prophecies, historical literature, and narrows them all down to simple axioms of truth for his listeners.

It is important to note at this point that the message is not simplistic but simplified. We surely would not claim that statements like, “I am the light of the world” are simplistic. We would say they are said in words that are understandable by a large percentage of people. They convey in a few easy-to-understand words what many of us would take paragraphs to explain. Jesus encapsulates depth and meaning within one statement that people will meditate on or analyse for years.

I want you to grasp therefore the gravity of what we are reading in the Gospels about the Great Commandment. Jesus is simplifying the Old Testament Scriptures to two commandments – loving God and loving others. With intellectual aptitude and theological wisdom, Jesus simplifies the message. He does not water it down. He does not compromise or contradict the Old Testament writings. He simplifies and clarifies the essence of what is important. He takes the Old Testament writings, shakes them up, and sifts out the nuggets of truth to the astonishment of the listeners around him.

You may wonder what this has to do with getting off the couch and changing the world. We’re about to find out that what Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day is what most secular personal development coaches have been communicating ever since.

Simplicity In Complexity

By the time Jesus was on the scene, the Jewish law had expanded to include hundreds and hundreds of laws. If you were to be a faithful Israelite, you had many expectations. We could recite Scriptures such as, “Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:3). There were many specific requests too, including, “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me” (Exodus 23:14).

Some of us are convinced that this just reinforces the idea that outdated religious structures provide little relevance in today’s secular, postmodern society. Some of these commandments may well seem legalistic to us, like “Don’t touch that!” “Put that down!” “Stop doing that!”, but in fact these Scriptures were a helpful handbook for living for the people of that day.

By the time Jesus arrived, legalism had crept in. The laws had expanded. The expectations were greater. Something had happened to the words traditionally passed down from the Lord to Moses. One may say that the religious leaders over generations had added to these words and the interpretations of them (no doubt for the intended good of the people) and the rules and regulations were mounting.

Our organisational structures evoke the same issue today. When you read of the beginnings of The Salvation Army, in Harold Hills’, Leadership in The Salvation Army, for instance, you read of an active people who were living, preaching and moving among the broken and marginalised people of East London. There was a call to action and a call to revivalist-type ministry in the East End. The missional imperative was there, although the following inevitable things happened:

• They acquired a headquarters.

• They started hiring workers.

• Printing started on the first ‘Soldier’s Covenant’ document (that Salvationists use an adaptation of today).

• Ministry to the poor and hungry expanded.

• The organisation of funds began with the first financial statement.

The point is this – movements can begin with very simple ideals and visions (such as ministry to the poor), although when growth comes, complexity arises. Who will pay the bills? Will we apply for marriage licences through government channels? Who will organise a wage for our employees? Do we need contracts? Who will manage these? Like any other movement, The Salvation Army has become challenged by the institutional demands of its operations (religious or otherwise).

In a broader sense, organisational structures that are created to help ‘organise’ the growth that is occurring can become stumbling blocks to effective mission. When the institutional expectations within an organisation become stifling to innovative, creative, life-giving mission, then change is needed. Organisational bureaucracy is meant to be a skeleton – it holds the organisation together, but if it begins to dominate, we have a problem.

To help us flesh this out, let’s consider John Wesley and the beginnings of the Wesleyan movement compared with the current Methodist Church. Wesley conducted his ministry on horseback throughout the English countryside, calling people not just to follow Christ but to become committed disciples of Christ. Can you see the challenge? Fifty people in a local community choose to realign their lives to that of God’s will and suddenly you have logistical challenges. Who will disciple? What will be the foundation of teaching used to disciple? What will we do with the financial support we are receiving? Who will administer these finances? Who will ensure the consistency of teaching across the board? The list goes on, and the complexity sets in.

The concern for any movement or community of faith is to not over-regulate itself. Communities of people inevitably become organised and thus become organisations, but we must be challenged to find ways to remain relational and engaged in ministry without getting caught up in unnecessary red tape. There is so much more that could be said on simplifying the church structures of our day, but I’m now going back to the way of Jesus.

The way Jesus summarised the Scriptures into two verses was astounding. No doubt, this was a bit controversial when he was physically on earth.

And it is certainly worth exploring, so let’s have a closer look at Jesus bringing simplicity within complexity. When he answers the religious leaders’ question he offers them two verses:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).

Around the time of Moses, the Israelites embraced a creed called the Shema, which encapsulated the words found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

These were words that the Israelite people consistently taught their children. The Scriptures say they had the words on their hearts. They impressed the words upon their children. They were encouraged to talk about them when they sat at home or when they walked along the road. The Israelites even tied the words as symbols onto their hands and bound them on their foreheads. They inscribed the words on their gates and the doorframes of their houses. Such was the commitment of the Israelite people to this creed that they seemed tirelessly concerned to keep such words at the forefront of their hearts and minds.

Jesus made it very clear on what it meant to get off the couch so we have opportunity to change the world.

Living Life To The Fullest

Staying at my parents’ house for a holiday some time ago in the surfer town of Torquay, on Australia’s south-east coast, provided an ideal time to gather my thoughts for the year ahead. And one day while when I was walking down to the beach, I had a lightbulb moment. I had been reading USA author Stephen Covey’s The 8th Habit, the sequel volume to his immensely popular The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I was intrigued by Covey’s look at human intelligences and his perception on how to be effective as a human being. The angle he took was that we should develop our intelligence in all areas of life. This meant that growing as a person included growing our intellectual intelligence (Intelligence Quotient – IQ), our emotional intelligence (Emotional Quotient – EQ), our physical body and health (Physical Quotient – PQ) and our spiritual consciousness (Spirit Quotient – SQ).

With the sea breeze moving through my hair (I embellish a little here), I had a revelation. The whole rigorous, intellectual discourse about human intelligences seems to derive from the words of Jesus! Now, please stick with me as I explain where I am coming from. Humanity’s desire to grow and mature as people has focused on improving our intellect, increasing our emotional intelligence, wrestling with existential questions about existence, ensuring we are fit and healthy, and developing our ability to connect well with others. The human intelligences, such as IQ and EQ and the like, have been our way of articulating what humanity needs to do to grow. 

• Love God with all your heart – Grow in emotional intelligence.

• Love God with all your soul – Grow your spiritual understanding.

• Love God with all your mind – Increase your intellect.

• Love God with all your strength – Get fit and healthy.

• Love your neighbour as yourself – Grow in social intelligence.

There is clearly an overlap here. The words of Jesus – to love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength – have become a challenge in secular circles of personal development, namely, to grow in emotional, mental, physical and spiritual intelligence. I am excited to realise that mainstream leadership authors are developing books that have been pressed and formed from principles that Jesus communicated many years previously!

Covey’s book is not religious, but it helped me make the connection between what Jesus said and today’s personal development material.

Can you see what’s happening? We are now setting the foundation for getting off the couch and changing the world. We have taken a number of laws and narrowed them down to two commandments – to love God and to love others. As we delved a little further, we saw that to love God with all our heart is synonymous with emotional intelligence. We also learnt that loving God with all our soul is articulated in general society in terms of spiritual intelligence and awareness. Loving God with all our mind is connected with mental intelligence. Loving God with all our strength relates to our focus on physical fitness and health. Loving others can be encapsulated under the theme of social intelligence.

This is how it is. If we want to develop our whole life, we need to grow in emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, mental intelligence, physical intelligence and social intelligence.

Take a deep breath. I need to stop here for a moment. If you are like me, you just read a whole bunch of thoughts and ideas about personal growth that need thinking through.

It takes effort and courage to consider changing ourselves, let alone changing the world. It would be easy to choose not to wrestle with growing and to quit before it costs anything – to get off the bandwagon before we get too invested.

However, what you’re about to discover now is a rich, doable, holistic strategy for personal development. What you’re about to see is that personal growth can be broken into five areas and that positive change is inevitable when we intentionally choose to spend quality time in developing ourselves in these areas.

An excerpt from Major Peter Brookshaw’s book, “Who am I to change the world?” Pick up your eBook copy online:  <link>