Dr LeCrone
05-31-2006, 01:52 PM
Problems are an expected part of everyone’s life. However, when problems become the main focus of our attention – the whole rather than the part – then life can become miserable. Problems, like so many other facets of life, are determined by the individual’s perception of the situation. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and a problem for one person is a “piece of cake” for another.
Several years ago one of my patient’s gave me the following passage on dealing with problems. The author is unknown but the information is very practical and straightforward. The passage reads as follows:
PROBLEMS . . . Everybody’s got them! Some problems we solve easily; some we solve with great difficulty; some we work out through sheer perseverance; some die; some vanish in thin air, some are solved by events; some are worked out for us by our friends or associates; some we solve quite by accident; some we discover to have existed only in our own minds; some are solved by time; some are never solved; we have to live with them.
Over the years I can think back to several situations where individuals I admired and respected have comments on assessing the importance of a problem and applying the most effective solution to the dilemmas we face.
One of my college roommates who is now a successful neurosurgeon when faced with a problem “what difference will it make a thousand years from now”? The situation from this perspective then allowed him to reassess the importance of the situation from the broader perspective. Is the simply a bump in the road, a difficulty that doesn’t bear immediate attention and effort or is this a gaping wound which requires immediate attention? Is this really important to me or can I ignore it and move on?
My father had a slightly different philosophy about problems. He use to assess the situation confronting him by asking “is this a situation that I can really change and do something about or, would it be better to move on to something else where I can really make a difference?” This philosophy enabled him to back away from many potentially unsolvable situations and conserve his energy for more realistic challenges.
If you find yourself frequently feeling overwhelmed by problems in life, perhaps one of these strategies will help you deal with difficulties in a more effective manner.
Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 2000
Several years ago one of my patient’s gave me the following passage on dealing with problems. The author is unknown but the information is very practical and straightforward. The passage reads as follows:
PROBLEMS . . . Everybody’s got them! Some problems we solve easily; some we solve with great difficulty; some we work out through sheer perseverance; some die; some vanish in thin air, some are solved by events; some are worked out for us by our friends or associates; some we solve quite by accident; some we discover to have existed only in our own minds; some are solved by time; some are never solved; we have to live with them.
Over the years I can think back to several situations where individuals I admired and respected have comments on assessing the importance of a problem and applying the most effective solution to the dilemmas we face.
One of my college roommates who is now a successful neurosurgeon when faced with a problem “what difference will it make a thousand years from now”? The situation from this perspective then allowed him to reassess the importance of the situation from the broader perspective. Is the simply a bump in the road, a difficulty that doesn’t bear immediate attention and effort or is this a gaping wound which requires immediate attention? Is this really important to me or can I ignore it and move on?
My father had a slightly different philosophy about problems. He use to assess the situation confronting him by asking “is this a situation that I can really change and do something about or, would it be better to move on to something else where I can really make a difference?” This philosophy enabled him to back away from many potentially unsolvable situations and conserve his energy for more realistic challenges.
If you find yourself frequently feeling overwhelmed by problems in life, perhaps one of these strategies will help you deal with difficulties in a more effective manner.
Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D. Copyright 2000