How to Solve the Real Problem (Instead of the Imaginary Problem in Your Head!)

The Problem. Guess what? There's actually two realities in this world. There are:
1. There's the way you see things, and
2. There's the way things actually are.

Have you ever tried to solve a problem and just found yourself going around and around and around in circles? Me too!

And now it looks like the source of the problem has nothing to do with the solution of the problem. In fact, what gets in the way of finding a solution is not even the same reality as the problem. Because the problem is the way you see things. And the solution is to be found only in closely looking at the way things actually are.

Put simply, (by Steven Covey) "the way you see the problem is the problem".

The Master Learner.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so. - Will Rogers.

It's not what we don't know that prevents us from succeeding; it's what we know that just ain't so that is our greatest obstacle. - Josh Billings.

Who is the master learner? Who outgrows situations and fears and poor character successfully? What is different about this person?

The master learner has heard of the Einstellung Effect. This effect states that a solution that is found efficiently may not be the best solution. According to the Einstellung Effect, the solution that comes easily at the start is usually not the best solution.

But the problem is, if you only have your own thoughts in your own head to go on, how can you open up to a new and better solution than the one in your head suggests? It's a catch-22!

The solution is in digging deeper into what the Einstellung effect really means.

It means that any time you learn something new, you have to unlearn something old. For me, new learning is a way of digging up something old; it is primarily an emotional experience of exposing and releasing old ideas.

The Solution Applied:
How can you easily apply these ideas now?

The trick lies in making unlearning a deliberate and conscious part of your life.

In the 12 step area, they pray a prayer to set them up, remind them, and develop the emotional pathways in the brain of unlearning, called "the Set-Aside Prayer". Adapted to everyone, it goes a little like this:

Please set aside anything I think I know about this subject I am learning, about myself, and about this situation, so that I may have an open mind and a new experience with all these things. Please help me see the Truth. Amen.

Who is the master learner? The master learner is the one who is willing first and foremost to unlearn, so that she may have a new experience of learning. May you have a new experience of learning today. Please try the Set-Aside Prayer and share how well it works.