After a meeting last Tuesday, I needed to print some papers. Since I moved here last year, I never got the printer to be wireless-connected. So each time when I needed to print, I must bring my laptop to the printer, connect with the USB port, then print. That did not bother me too much (as long as it worked) until COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when I could not print work-related reading materials at the office. I have looked up information from the internet and tried to solve it but still to no avail. It was very frustrating for me as it cost me an average of 2.5 hours every time trying to get it to connect to the wireless signal, not forgetting all the technical mumbo-jumbo. That remained a futile attempt recently but I left it at that. When I intended to print last Tuesday, I was perplexed by the printer that did not seem to work at all. Then I realized that I have to point it back to the USB port in order for it to print. That must be it! Once it was corrected, the printer still was not working the way I expected it to. Confusion turned into frustration, all I wanted was to have the document printed. In an agitated state, I could hear the conversations in my head, "Told you you should get a new one..", "Maybe I should get a new one indeed..", "Do I really need to get a new one, it was working before..", "I really should not be spending money on this, so, solve it..", "Darn, why isn't it working?", "Come on! Work already!". Switched printer off, restarted, error printing message, repeated. After several failed attempts, I felt utterly exhausted and went to the kitchen to grab a bite. When I went back all nourished, I sat there for a moment, thinking about what I remembered must happen to make the printer work (via USB). In my instinct, I went right up to the printer inspecting if all parts were connected and that was when I realized the USB was not plugged into the printer at all. How did that happen?
That was a just a simple example where the solution to a problem can be so obvious and right there before our eyes - yet, we just cannot see and interpret them. A great way to explain this concerns our energy vibrations, created by our thoughts, that are not on par with the frequency of the solution itself. Problems, however big or small, are not problems at all, if we can actually take actions to solve them. Sometimes, we are just not aware of what needs to be done, or what actions must be taken to overcome difficulties. Albert Einstein once said, 'We cannot solve our problems using the same level of thinking that created them.' Everything starts with thoughts in our mind. Thoughts repeated frequently enough will become our beliefs. Our thoughts trigger the emotions that arise in us which then determine our course of actions. When thoughts turn into beliefs, that build onto our conditionings that will influence our decision-making process. In my example above, it is clear to me now how my thoughts then triggered the frustrations in me which eventually drove me to take all the wrong actions that were not helping. More importantly, I was blocked from seeing the solution because my head was clouded with disempowering chatters, believing the problem was with the printer! Why? Because wherever focus goes, energy flows.
Here to give you another example in my experience. Already for many weeks that I realized there seemed to be stench in the bathroom (sorry if this gives a gross impression, but there is a relevant lesson worth talking about). The natural instinct was to check if the attached toilet must be cleaned more vigorously. Although I was sure that it was already clean, I kept rinsing it with detergent, flushed it a few more times - day after day, but the stench just seemed to stay. I remember even feeling so embarrassed when my son went in one day and exclaimed loudly "...ewww...it stinks in here, mama". From that moment, I got fired up to find out what the problem was. Where did that stench come from? No amount of air refresher or detergent solution could get rid of it. I ran into a road block and knew deep down that I must have missed something. However, given my frustrations (again) hence my state at that time, no surprise that in no way I could find the answer I needed. So, I left it there and not think about it for a few days. Until one day, again based on my instinct, I went towards the scented candles that I have on the wall shelf. And right there, the mystery was resolved. The stench came from the "scented" candles which were there all along, who would have guessed? The whole time I was focusing on assuring myself that "It has to be the toilet", and no wonder I found no leads.
If I take the time, I probably can dish up more examples like this to share (or perhaps you can even think of many similar incidents in your own experience where you seemed to be blinded from the obvious solution) but trust you get the gist. When I looked back at little daily events like these and what I can learned from them, here are my few suggestions to offer:
Take a pause and come back to the problem later
When nothing seems to work or efforts are futile, it is a sign to just take a break. Step away for some time and focus on something else. Taking a pause, more importantly, means to connect with our breath and take a distance from the problem that we are trying to solve. In my examples above, I left the printer issue behind to nourish myself and clear my head. I refrained from insisting to figure out that stench origin by 'letting it be' for a few days. In that gap of time, I knew that I would find the answer.
Believe that you will solve the problem
When we believe that we will find the answer, we usually do. I would recommend to anchor this in no matter how tough circumstances we find ourselves in, because when we believe, our mind works to our advantage guiding us through various instincts or 'divine suggestions', sometimes none of which we would even have imagined before. It gets even better when we can just picture and feel as though the problem has already been resolved. Amazingly when we do this enough, we will start to see how the solution shows itself effortlessly and we wonder what we have been doing all this while.
Connect the dots and trust your intuition
The previous two steps will set the stage to help us see 'the big picture' more clearly, allowing us to organize what appear to be some dispersed ideas into steps or actions that we start to be aware of to resolve the problem. Sometimes, this can happen in the spur of a moment that unless we are present and calm, we might just miss it. In that small window of time, when we get the intuition to do certain things, that is usually what leads to the solution that we are looking for.
I see how this works for me over and over again. When it is laid out like this, it may sound like mere common sense. But in case we do not already know this, common sense does not seem to be all that common at all. When we are in the midst of a problem, we usually get caught up in it and any seconds away from it feel like time stolen from actually solving it. Consider this an invitation to try something different, if these are novice ideas to you. You can't expect a different result by doing the same thing every time.
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