Simple solutions for complex problems

I really appreciate getting comments on my blogs, particulalry critical ones, since they expose thoughts I had not considered, and thus push my thinking forward. So thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment...

That said, I'd like to reply to the comment about the simplicity of my advice. I agree. Some problems are certainly more complex than others. Sometimes the stakes are higher. Sometimes there is a long history involving deeply rooted relationships. There may be cultural or generational challenges. In the case of social causes, there may even be historical or institutional obstacles. Solutions, of course, need to fit the problem both in size and scope. And they take time to implement before we see real results.

But there are two phases to problem solving: Thought and Action. What I've been discussing so far has concerned phase one, Thought. My advice, on this blog, and in the "real world" to friends, always centers around training our minds to think clearly. I encourage people to disconnect their expectations, their hopes, their resentments, their interpretations, their stories and their past, as well as any other such construct, from their state of mind. In the end, all solutions begin in the mind, and that self-critical voice in our head limits what we think are possible options. Quieting that voice suddenly unveils a whole host of new possibilities, and our problems don't seem so ominous, so unsurmountable.

Complex problems often require complex solutions, that much is true. What I would encourage you to consider, however, is that not all problems are as complex as we think. We build things up, we make mountains out of pebbles, we forget that a small change in our attitude can destroy some huge issue that had completely devastated us. We have as much power in our mind as David had in his slingshot...