Turn down the tap of incoming problems
Channel: Quest for a Meaningful Life
Date: 2021-06-20

So we have this baseline state, this imagined scenario of "What would I do if I had no problems?"
However we want to enjoy life, whatever we want to do with life, if we didn't have to solve the problems that crop up along the way.
And for me, I like to imagine walking in the forest, listening to the birds, observing the sunrises, sunsets, the stars, just enjoying the universe, enjoying being alive.
And so whatever that state is, between us and that state is a whole lineup of problems.
There's a whole big box of problems that we have.
Besides the daily problems that come up repeatedly forever, sleeping, eating, cleaning, maintaining things that break down: those things will always keep coming up.
And then there's the problems of, well, how do we pay for this and that, and how do I deal with my own difficulties inside myself, of being able to manage my own feelings, my own behaviour, having self-command, discipline, being able to do what I want to do and guide myself.
And all these problems.
And we have them standing in the way of us and what we want.
So what better way to spend a day than to clear off some of those problems?
Imagine that you have this system of problems, where there's a flow out of the system.
That's when problems are being solved.
You solve it, you cross it off the list.
Or maybe, for whatever reason, it's not a problem anymore, or we just remove that from the list.
So we want to bring the level down.
It's like a tank full of problems.
We want to bring that level down, by just like flowing out, just like crossing out, solution, solution, fix that.
Sometimes it's like directly solving the exact problem as we imagine it, but sometimes it's reimagining the problem, that we say OK, we saw this as a big problem, but actually we can look at it in a different way, or we can use some kind of other creative way, maybe, to solve it.
And we can use a lot of creativity, I think, and solving problems creatively is one of the great human abilities.
So what it means to solve a problem can be so many things.
Just whatever it takes to overcome that barrier, make the barrier go away, or transform into something else.
So we're bringing down the level of that tank of problems by solving these problems.
And then there's like a tap bringing in new problems.
Every day, we have more.
There's new things showing up.
And some of those things will always be there.
Just from being alive, we have these recurrent things we have to deal with.
OK, how do we eat, and how do we take care of this and that, and solve that, that thing breaks down, and we need to help our friends and family.
And these things will keep coming.
But it seems like we also let in a lot of other problems.
We have a big tap of problems that we're just allowing to flow into this tank of problems that we have.
So no matter how much we solve, it often feels like the tank level is always going up.
We're always getting more and more problems, no matter how hard we work to solve them.
And that's where I think we can really focus on this this input of problems, this incoming flow.
Where do our problems come from?
We have these required problems of living, basic maintenance, like eating every day.
We have the problems that come from the people around us that we choose to support, and helping them deal with their problems.
What else do we need to deal with?
It seems like there's a lot of room to to simplify that input side of things what's coming into our our problem tank.
And that's why I love the spirit of minimalism and simple living, that by keeping things simple, we can turn down that tap of incoming problems as much as possible.
And if we can do that, maybe we really can see the level of that problem tank go down, as we just keep solving these problems, and we let fewer and fewer in.
So I wonder, what are the problems that we need to deal with?
What do we need to let in?
What do we need to solve?
And what are the problems that we can simply not take on, simply ignore, simply not deal with?
Simply not even see them as problems, they're just not relevant?
Where, how, can we turn down that tap of incoming problems?

#moreproblems #problemtank #turndownthetap