There are times when my life is simply confusing. Some project may seem insurmountable, or some relationship irreconcilable, or some complication unsolvable, but I’ve learned not to roll in these concerns. The intellectual reality is that I can’t currently see a direction. In the past this would make me extremely uncomfortable and I would continue grinding away, keep trying things, until I figured it out or ruined it.
There’s no doubt that this is still the first place my mind goes. I like solving complex problems because it’s a challenge. Slowly I’m learning that instead of amping up to the challenge, often the best solution is to settle into the conflict. By this I’m not suggesting accepting failure or turning things over to fate. Instead, I’m suggesting accepting the reality of the moment that there is a difficult problem that I don’t have a solution to. Let the problem develop. Let the resources come to the surface.
One thing I’ve learned with this practice is that more often than not, when the time is right, the correct pieces fall into place. By ignoring it or attacking the problem, I can often make it worse, but by acknowledging the problem and observing it, sometimes the variable begin to change. One fascinating piece is that the variable that changes is often something that I didn’t even originally connect to the problem. By observing, I start to develop a complete understanding of the root of the challenge at hand. Food for thought. Time to meditate.
