So maybe a month ago, I get back from work, I'm in the kitchen and I'm thinking to myself "mashed potato". So I start looking for my potato peeler but I can't find it anywhere. After about 3 minutes I'm ready to start throwing shit off the balcony in a major tantrum and then it dawns on me the reality of the situation. My flat is not without knives, I got at least 20 in the kitchen (sharp too). So I take a step back and ask myself "what is actually going on here?". After a short period, I figure it out. Not happy with where I was working plus a few other personal problems was really getting to me. Anyway, that's not the point I'm trying to make. What I'm trying to say is, how often do we ask ourselves why? I remember a time in my life where the thought would not even cross my mind. Something would make me unhappy and it would effect other parts of my life. I'd realize that this "other part" of my life was causing irritation but wouldn't think that the cause would more often than not have been something totally unrelated, I just knew that I was unhappy and pissed off.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we stopped to ask ourselves why, maybe it would have a positive effect on other parts of our lives. The ability to resolve any issues lies in first knowing the cause of the issue. Our failure to ask why, can leave problems unresolved and can put us into a cycle of doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result while at the same time reenforcing behavior patterns that effect us negatively.
Asking ourselves why, opens the gate to finding the problem. Finding the problem then gives us 4 options.
1. Leave everything as it is.
2. Change it.
3. Accept it.
4. Get rid of it.
Leaving everything as it is tends to be a crap option. If we need to ask ourselves why, the reason generally indicates that some form of change needs to happen. So, can we change it? If not, are we able to accept it. Finally, failing those - we're left with the remaining option of getting rid of it (for you crazies out there, no, I don't mean off someone!). It's a simple concept overall but works for me every time.
A conscious decision to simply ask "why?" has helped me resolve problems that would have otherwise been left alone.
I'm not trying to preach or tell anyone how to live their life. However, if you're able to take something positive from this then the 25 minutes it took to write this was worth every second.
Peace and Love.
