Jamaicans are known for using the expression "No problem!" and, on the other side of the world, Australians are known for the expression "No worries!" Well, the other day I was reading an article by Tony Mase, a student of Wallace D Wattles, the author of The Science of Getting Rich, who suggested that we take this one step further and literally eliminate the word "problem" from our vocabulary.
I tried it on for size and found that I quite liked it. I usually aim to reframe problematic situations by calling them challenges. However, what Mase was suggesting is that we simply call problems "situations". It's a technique known in NLP as reframing.
Do you remember the movie Apollo 13? The tagline for this movie and the one line that everyone remembers from this movie is, "Houston, we have a problem." Suppose Captain James Lovell, played by Tom Hanks, said instead, "Houston, we have a situation." It doesn't have the same impact but can you see that a person hearing the second sentence would probably be in a calmer frame of mind and better able to start thinking immediately of solutions, or at least strategies, to find a solution than hearing that there is a problem. Recall, for instance, an occasion when someone called you and said that there was a problem. You probably felt a sense of foreboding.
Generally, we don't like problems and so of course life throws more of them at us. What we resist persists and so the chances are that you are trying to eliminate problems from your life you won't succeed. If however, you focus on things working out smoothly, then this will be your reality. However, you can't eliminate problems entirely which is why the technique of reframing is so valuable. It will not only help you to see your situation in a more positive light. It will also assist you in turning your situation into one that is more favourable.
There are some people who make a handsome living out of solving other people's problems. I suspect that one of the keys to their success is that they don't see the circumstances they have been presented with as problems just as another scenario.
You're probably thinking it's easy to think of other people's problems as situations but not so easy to do the same for your own. Yet I know of people who literally make themselves ill because they take on other people's problems so, instead of being in a position to assist the person in need, they potentially exacerbate the situation because they are too empathetic.
The rewards for reframing your problems are so great I highly recommend giving it a go. What "problems" are you currently faced with? Consider them as "situations" instead and see how they become less ominous and how you are better able to think clearly about possible solutions. No problems, no worries.
I tried it on for size and found that I quite liked it. I usually aim to reframe problematic situations by calling them challenges. However, what Mase was suggesting is that we simply call problems "situations". It's a technique known in NLP as reframing.
Do you remember the movie Apollo 13? The tagline for this movie and the one line that everyone remembers from this movie is, "Houston, we have a problem." Suppose Captain James Lovell, played by Tom Hanks, said instead, "Houston, we have a situation." It doesn't have the same impact but can you see that a person hearing the second sentence would probably be in a calmer frame of mind and better able to start thinking immediately of solutions, or at least strategies, to find a solution than hearing that there is a problem. Recall, for instance, an occasion when someone called you and said that there was a problem. You probably felt a sense of foreboding.
Generally, we don't like problems and so of course life throws more of them at us. What we resist persists and so the chances are that you are trying to eliminate problems from your life you won't succeed. If however, you focus on things working out smoothly, then this will be your reality. However, you can't eliminate problems entirely which is why the technique of reframing is so valuable. It will not only help you to see your situation in a more positive light. It will also assist you in turning your situation into one that is more favourable.
There are some people who make a handsome living out of solving other people's problems. I suspect that one of the keys to their success is that they don't see the circumstances they have been presented with as problems just as another scenario.
You're probably thinking it's easy to think of other people's problems as situations but not so easy to do the same for your own. Yet I know of people who literally make themselves ill because they take on other people's problems so, instead of being in a position to assist the person in need, they potentially exacerbate the situation because they are too empathetic.
The rewards for reframing your problems are so great I highly recommend giving it a go. What "problems" are you currently faced with? Consider them as "situations" instead and see how they become less ominous and how you are better able to think clearly about possible solutions. No problems, no worries.
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