The Problem Factory

The healing we are ready for doesn’t come from changing anything. It comes from the ability to see and be with what is.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that the mind we live in believes the opposite of the statement above. It is a problem factory. It turns even the smallest things into problems and then spends most of its time trying to figure out how to fix them. If it isn’t concerned about the new pimple on your chin, it is concerned about how your neighbor mows his lawn or if your headache will continue throughout the day. These little concerns mushroom into big concerns like “Will I get cancer?” or “Will they reject me?” or “Will I have anything left in my retirement fund?”

If you watch it, you will see that as soon as the mind solves one problem, it comes up with another. And if it can’t solve one, it throws us into despair. I like to say that we are like people sitting in paradise, constantly trying to unravel a ball of yarn – and believing if we just unravel it then everything will be okay. I have news for you. Your life will never be okay trying to make it okay! That is just the game of the problem factory. And the ball of yarn is endless.

What would it be like to take a break from this endless struggle inside and step out of the problem mode? What would it be like to know that there is no ball of yarn to unravel? What would it be like to be able to connect with the ‘paradise’ that is always with us, right here, right now, when we lift our eyes from the ball of struggle?

What allows us to open the door that leads out of struggle is curiosity. The problem factory is all about trying to control life. Curiosity is the willingness to look at what is. When we can look at what we are experiencing without turning it into a problem, magic begins to happen. This is what Rumi is talking about in his poem The Guest House. It is one of his best-known poems, but very few people know the last half of it where it says, “Learn the alchemy that few human beings know, that when you accept what difficulties you have been given the door opens.” This is talking about the place beyond the problem factory of our minds.

When Eckhart Tolle endorsed my book Belonging to Life, he told me that he liked the two mantras ‘What is’ and ‘This too’. “What is” is an invitation to step out of the problem factory and simply notice what is happening right now. “This too” is an invitation to stop fighting what is. It brings you into the healing power of allowing.

So I invite you, just for today, notice how much your mind loves to turn everything into a problem. And for moments, be curious about what is going on right now (What is). Then give it space to be (This too), so it can move through you, and you can rediscover the ‘paradise’ of life that is right here, right now.

Today is our last day for our $150 off special coupon for What’s In Your Way IS the Way interactive online course starting September 14, 2022. Come learn how to rediscover the joy of being fully present for life. At checkout, use coupon code: $150WIYW6