How to Solve Life Problems?

 

Problem? No Problem!

 

Do you have problems in your life? Yes, you have.

I have many problems in my life.

You have many problems in your life.

He and she have many problems.

All your relatives, friends and colleagues have problems.

Notice that it is not single but in plural. Not just one problem, but more than one.

During this journey, different problems come and go. So, what to do? In other words, how to carry on?

Let us start with basics.

Step 1

Divide your life into four broad segments.

1) Physical

2) Emotional

3) Spiritual

4) Financial

 Here you have to face two facts of life.

1) These four aspects of your life are not and will never be exactly equal. Sometimes one or two aspects dominate a period of your life and at other times, they weaken.

Physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial aspects are not static. They are fluid. They ebb and flow.

2) Each one of us is different from every other human being in the world. Hundreds of subtle factors like DNA, culture, habits, upbringing, education, etc., impact and influence our lives in different ways.

Therefore, solutions to your problems can not be specific. From the advice, from the guidance, from the help available to you, you have to adopt some methods to make the general into specific for your situation.

Some people have told me they had tried specific actions picked up from books and media and could not solve their problems or could not gain any benefit.

Perhaps you too would have seen this in your life or in the lives of people near and dear to you. Advices flood us from everywhere. Go on a diet, join a gym, read this book, listen to that podcast, take therapy from psychiatrists, follow this horoscope, sip that tonic, earn more money to feel happy, so on and so forth.

You have to be choosy. Do not blindly follow any advice or suggestion. Don’t put into practice anything that is not congruent with your life. The solution has to fit in with your culture and your value-system.

Lots of solutions come from people in western civilization, which is not as old as India, China, Japan, or even Greece. Western society is yet to evolve fully and so, it gives more importance to an individual rather than a family or a community and more importance to materialistic lifestyle of temporary pleasures (short-term) rather than long term spiritual and emotional equilibrium.

Step 2

I suggest you write down a list of problems. They should jump out of your mind readily.

Try to group them into the four categories mentioned above.

After a day or two, look at the list: Which category has more entries? Are the entries minor or major problems?

For example, the physical group in my list may have several entries, including these two items: A) go to sleep early and B) Have eye surgery for cataract. Obviously, item B is important and takes priority. 

Step 3

Your next step, therefore, is to pick one top priority item (only one) from each category and note them down. Do not think too much about other entries in the list and focus your mind on the four priority items.

What actions to take and how much effort to put in to tackle these. Think on those lines. There are many proven methods. We will look at them in the next article.

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