There is an abundance of empirical evidence available that points us towards a simple but startling conclusion: How we look at things changes how things look.
This conclusion startles me because, quite honestly, if I’m looking at something as a problem, I am already convinced that it IS a problem and not just how I’m LOOKING at it. Now, with the conclusion in the first paragraph staring at me, I can no longer be so sure. Now I have to consider that my perspective might just be all of or, at least, a contributing part of the problem itself. Frankly, that sucks. By myself, I only have my perspective. And that perspective only sees a problem.
Even Albert Einstein was reported to have observed (and I do not quote here because I’ve found several versions of the idea): We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Something has to give. Something different, something new, something unexpected has to be introduced before a solution has reveal itself. It’s rarely a matter of IQ power or brute determination. It’s frequently the opposite…a question reframed or a sequence shifted…a pause, a step back, a waiting patiently for an intuition…an asking another person for their perspective. And the transition from seeing only the problem to opening up to a solution is made possible.
A well known politician was once asked if he was a ‘glass half-full or a glass half-empty’ kind of person, to which he replied, “Depends on how thirsty I am, I suppose.”
Funny and true.
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