Problems & Solutions
A wise man once said…“We cannot solve problems with the kind of thinking we employed when we came up with them.” That wise man was a guy named Albert Einstein, you may have heard of him.
I presume he was talking more about some mathematical problem in principles of physics or energy, but this statement can be applied to our lives far outside the confines of a laboratory. If we keep our focus on the problems, we are very unlikely to be able to take a step back and focus on finding a solution. In fact, when thinking this way, we often inadvertently train ourselves to find even more problems - or perhaps only be capable of brainstorming excuses for why we can’t solve the problems. When we apply this “problem focused” mindset about our health, it’s no different. We end up feeling like there’s no way to change and all we are doing is banging our heads against the wall. That all being said, it is still important to identify problems so that we can do some thinking about how we can move forward and achieve the results we want - we just need to revise our mindset a little bit.
“Solution based thinking” is perhaps a better way to phrase what we previously called “problem solving”. When we are focused on “problem solving”, it obviously keeps the problem at the centre of the conversation. When it comes to improving our lives - and therefore also our health, it may be more effective to brainstorm in a “solution based” thinking model instead. For example, instead of “How can I solve this problem?” redirect your mind to say “What can I do so that I feel how I want to feel?” This allows us to expand our horizons and consider a diverse range of options (aka potential solutions), rather than single track linear thinking restricted to the one problem. Now that we are onto the right train of thought, let’s take this solution-focused brainstorming idea one step further.
Let’s consider that if we change the spelling of solution to “soul-ution” we can serve ourselves even better - especially when it comes to improving our health. Keeping our soul or spirituality at the core of our decisions is much more likely to result in strategies and changes that allow us to feel purposeful and happy. Spirituality, in this realm, does not necessarily refer to religious identity or beliefs, but rather considers what is important to us and what drives us to live the way we do. Maybe for you it is an identified religion, or maybe it is being connected to nature, or the belief that we all have a place and purpose in the universe; what you ‘attach’ to does not matter. What matters is that your spirituality is whatever makes you feel whole, what drives you, what makes you tick. When we seek to solve our perceived problems using this soul-ution approach, we are more likely to find strategies that ring true to who we are and what we believe. And when we do that, we are of course more likely to stick to them - and more likely to experience positive results. So go ahead and identify the problems (sticking your head in the sand and pretending they aren’t there at all is equally detrimental); but next time, once you’ve found them, rather than trying to problem solve your way to happiness, try brainstorming your potential soul-utions, without limiting them to that one problem. I think you will find you are able to come up with not only more ideas, but more meaningful ones as well.