Anyone remember a recent bout of anger? Care to share? Anybody and everybody who wants to.

I work for an organization that answers to the government. Policies changed over the summer and some of our account holders had to change the way they do things. They didn’t believe us staff when we said, so they contacted our manager directly who then told them they don’t have to. It was all very stressful and then we were made to look bad because our manager didn’t read the new policy yet.

So you felt you had to take on that issue. That it meant something about you and how you were working, yes?

Yes, and frustration with how the system is not very coherent. But at the same time there was something else that occurred to you, something that you would have preferred to do, and you ignored it because you had to “fix the problem” or at least felt you did.

Yes. What was that alternative activity? It didn’t have to even make sense, might not have, but it’s still relevant.

Quit, let someone else deal with it. Let someone else deal with it. Had you focused your attention on that would the issue have been dealt with?

No. No one else was responsible for it? I guess in a way they were, but no one else takes the responsibility. The manager wasn’t in the office so didn’t have access to the account, and no one else knew the situation. Ah, so you have had chronic issues, and you remain on your guard against this behaviour from your co workers so things get really repetitive. Is this not so?

Yes, I guess you could say that. In a way I like the responsibility because then I know the problem has been solved effectively and quickly. But yes, repetitive is a good word if we aren’t thinking necessarily negatively.

You are trying to become your office system. This is where people get in trouble. They serve to lock not only themselves, but those in contact with them, into an existing state. It’s natural but not necessary or useful. Expectations. Expecting something that has happened in the past to happen again. Removing any spontaneity from it, or growth.

What would the next step in your work have been if you skipped that one? If you skipped over mediating that situation, what would have been next on your to do list?

Processing applications. Nothing to do with the same event, and what would have happened had you done that?

About the situation? They would have continued to bother the manager who would then contact me again to see why it isn’t done, but anyone else could have stepped up and taken it on. Well, we do tend to predict the worst outcomes.

I will offer a problem solving model, and it’s about keeping your check sums in balance, keeping all those neurons firing in a useful way. Any experience that is a problem for you, is a problem because of insufficient information. As Einstein said, you can’t solve a problem in the same state of mind you became aware of it in. I paraphrase of course, and there is a reason this is true. It’s not just philosophical. By focusing on the perceived problem, you block new information from entering your perception. You trigger the same effect that leads people to experience change blindness as neuroscientists are calling it now. If you continue with your process without focusing on that problem, the rest of the situation tends to still have complete information. We fear moving on because we think we must absolutely solve the problem right now.

I’ve noticed if I am stuck on a problem, as soon as I decide to give up and ask someone for help, then that instant the solution comes to me. Yes. The answer often comes very quickly, but only when we view our situations not as separate instances. Your life is no closed system ever. The reason people who expect problems to solve themselves often fail to experience the solution of these problems, is they ignore the surrounding complete information. The idea that something will fix itself implies an agency that is not present. The whole process is the fix to any small errors that creep up in the process. You just have to keep following the code, keep responding to the Tao.

I think for me, in order to ask for help, I have to explain the problem to them so I have to look at it from their perspective. That works. A lot of times there isn’t even a practical problem. Instead really just a perceptual one so trying to explain it or see it from someone else’s view reveals that.

To summarize, obsession throws off your check sum. You may think you can obsess in one area but be clear and accurate in others, but any fixated point of attention is like a stuck button on a calculator. The math will wind up all wrong from then on and in every function you pursue. Realize that all your “experiences” are bits of data, and the truth is behind the data, is the substance that gives the data meaning. You build with your attention. Just like they built a light molecule in the lab by slowing things down, slow your problems down and you will keep them. Slow your vibrant experiences of being alive down and you will remain healthy and clear headed. Really enjoy your meal. Really appreciate that walk.

Mass is just slowed down energy so a light molecule is like half way between energy and mass, like glass is part solid and part liquid. Exactly.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~