When there is a mountainous problem in front of us, we can quickly go into overwhelm. From this state of mind, a solution is not going to appear.
If you’ve been wrestling with a seemingly impossible problem, let it be for awhile and focus on strengthening your relationship with your inner resources–your clarity, strength, compassion, and wisdom.
Sometimes all we need to do is give a problem room to breathe.
Sometimes the solution comes after taking a nap, going for a walk, or taking the day off.
Sometimes the problem is more difficult.
There are problems that show up in our life that are very difficult to solve–and invariably these are the ones that call on us to grow. So if you can’t solve the problem, it might be that you need some time to grow into being the person who can solve it.
So step back from the problem and give yourself that time. Think of the problem as the graduation project, and give yourself a few months or years to learn the curriculum you need to complete it.
Give yourself a break–and rest in the certainty that growth is inevitable if you give yourself the room and tools, and that things always look different when you’ve grown into a new perspective. Trust in the process of growth to bring you to the answers you need.
Yes, I agree with you so much on this! I’ve been noodling over the generally prescribed advice for entrepreneurial, creative dreamer types to ‘do what makes your heart sing’ and ‘follow your inspiration’ etc, and trying to work out how to discern when that’s true and when it’s a call to grow ourselves and our capabilities.
When is it legitimate to outsource one’s bookkeeping and when is it avoiding the discomfort of figuring it out for ourselves, especially when the profit margins are low.
And bigger than that, when is it legitimate to eg. leave a relationship and when is the ‘problem’ of things-are-hard-different-between-us a call to grow? To become the person who can still find value in this relationship?
I think that being able to sit with an unresolved problem and give it some time is hugely important in figuring out those kind of ‘problems’.
Too often I think we jump to action (outsourcing when we can’t afford to, changing tack when things don’t go to plan, breaking up etc) because it gives us something to DO, something that puts us back in control of something</i