Day 79

Today's Lesson:

Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.

A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Even if it is already solved you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it has been solved. This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved; but the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized.

Everyone in the world seems to have his own special problem, yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution that solves them all is to be accepted. We have the answer, but we are still uncertain about what the problem is. We see a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer. This perception places us in a position in which our problem solving must be inadequate, and failure is inevitable.

All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem, which is separation, no matter what form it takes. If we could see this, we could accept the answer because we would see its relevance. We have the means to solve what appear to be many problems. And we would use the means because we recognize the problem.

So today we are to free our minds of all the seemingly many problems and realize there is only one problem, which we have failed to recognize. We will ask what it is, and wait for the answer. We will be told. Then we will ask for the solution to it, and we will be told.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Finding the answers to all the situations we determine to be problems would be very simple if we could just quiet our minds. I find that as I am able to take even five minutes and just be quiet, things never are as problematic as they might seem when my mind is going a hundred miles an hour.

I finished a new book yesterday by a blogging friend of mine in Denmark. The book is called Happy Hour is 9 to 5 by Alex Kjerulf and even in Alex's book he talks about how changing our mind about work can give us better results. We have it that work is tough, stressful and unpleasant, but he says it is essential that we find happiness at work. And he says that one of the ways to do that is to "take five," where you just sit with your eyes closed and regroup. "At work?" you might ask? Alex says - and I'm beginning to understand, too - how NOT taking five minutes to be quiet will perpetuate all the problems we think are real. Maybe in that five minutes we all just remember today's lesson - we recognize the real problem. Today's lesson says we shouldn't insist that we know the real problem. All we need is some doubt about the reality of our version of what our problems are. Then spend those five minutes suspending all judgment about what the problem is. Close your eyes and ask. You will be heard and you will be answered.

Think about how this can alter the workplace! Let's all be committed to noticing when we feel those 60,000 random thoughts getting the better of us, and just slow down, close your eyes, and think to yourself:

Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved.

Let's share what we notice when we really ask for the answer.