21 Aug Love Your Problems

Do we enjoy or resent our problems?

Despite a generally negative connotation on the surface, problems can be proven to offer powerful wisdom.

For instance, Amy Morin, best-seller author and psychotherapist, demonstrates positivity in problems.

She guides clients to leave destructive worries or thoughts behind, shifting our focus to constructive solutions.

Her strategic style guides us to have positive responses in crisis that do not offer any viable or visible solutions.

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Sometimes we may hear a colleague exclaim,

“Think of your problems as experiences or challenges”

This may be some solid constructive criticism.

Now we can change a painful problem into a powerful prognosis.

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Growing up, I lived in a glass half empty environment.

Later in life, it must have been good fortune that led me to discover we can gradually ‘flip the switch’, of our psychology, by living a life of glass half full: a solutions-oriented mentality.

This simply means we can change our life if we change our mind.

Can we accept the fact that problems are an integral part of our lives?

There are countless situations we have experienced problems.

We are going about our day and suddenly everything stops due to some unforeseen random event.

Do we become irritated and curse the moment or step back and embrace it?

In my experience, if we step back, it opens a whole new world.

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Here’s a quick story many of us may relate to.

Living in small apartments for twenty years, there was little to no outdoor maintenance for me.

In contrast, renting a larger home later in life required substantially more maintenance.

Nine months of the annual outdoor maintenance comprised of shoveling snow, raking leaves, cleaning various debris from the park’s massive cotton trees (tumbling into our yard) and of course mowing the lawn, just to list a few items.

One hot summer day in 2020, sweating over a two-hour lawn mowing mission, wishing I was hiking a lovely mountain somewhere, or hanging out with friends, my neighbor came out to say hello, so I took a break.

He expressed a few warm greetings, as he usually does, however, this time was different.

Auspiciously, he shared how he believes mowing the lawn is like a meditation.

He suddenly smiled and left, after imparting to me this seemingly divine gift, however, offering no opportunity to inquire as to what he meant.

I returned to my work, deep in thought, as to what he was talking about.

Later that summer, it hit me!

Many of the things I learned in my meditation group, Falun Dafa, could be relevant here.

When the next lawn mowing began, I tried smiling, calming my thoughts, emptying my mind, slowing my breathing and movement slightly-even thinking of it as a good exercise to lose a few pounds, or a way to get some fresh air and exercise.

All this positive reinforcement was so powerful that I forgot about my problem and even had fun!

Nearly every time I mow the lawn now, including most other menial tasks listed above, are more positive experiences instead of chores-they rarely bother me.

Change your mind. Change your life.

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Sources

• Amy Morin, Forbes (October 2019), The Difference Between Helpful Problem Solving And Harmful Overthinking [Online] Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2019/10/15/the-difference-between-helpful-problem-solving-and-harmful-overthinking/ [Accessed August 19 2025]