Problem

The way we see the problem is the problem. - Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I agree. This is the case most of the time. Problem is not a problem at all. It is a situation. How we react to a situation can result in given situation becoming a problem or opportunity. Why do we react to a particular situation in a particular way? If you observe, there is a very small amount of time from we recognize a situation to how we label it- as a problem or otherwise. That small time is used up by 'self-talk'. Self talk is how our brain interprets the situation and comes up with a monolog that we hear. Even if we aware of this mechanism, we can go a long way in controlling the kind of self talk that we generate. This self talk is mostly negative and that's how we see many situations as problems. This self talk is the result of years of conditioning. We call it conditioning or what ancient Hindu sages termed as 'samskara'. This our auto-response to situations based on life's worth of experiences in the past. Once we recognize this, we can consciously make a point to insert a deliberate  gap between seeing the situation and coming up with conclusion. You may not be successful at once. Even after inserting deliberate gap, you may hear the same old 'self talk'. That's ok. By becoming aware of this tendency, you are already taken a very important step. Keep trying and very soon self talk subsides and thinking improves. You get better clarity. This is a life long exercise and worth every effort. Treat it as experiment. There are no success or failure in experiments. Only outcomes.

When we change the way we look at things, things we look at change.- Wayne Dyer.

Cheers!

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