Recognizing Our Problems

Reed: You know, there’s the problem of the elephant in the room. In English, we have this saying: “The elephant in the room.” It’s that big thing, so big you may not even see it because it’s like right up against your face but you can feel it. And I think that’s something to look out for, too. Often these build up because of being inattentive, not attending to problems. And so problems start to build; little problems become intermediate, become big. And what you’re looking at at the surface is not the actual problem anymore. All these things are then linked together. So that happens as a result of neglect. And it can put a real elephant in your room. And you think: “God, it’s about my health. My health is not good—not sleeping, not digesting my food. I feel stressed.” You know? And it’s like well, that’s…Your health is taking a hit because of something else, right? And that may be happening because of something else. So you get these…a more complex field of problems because of neglect, neglecting problems as they come up. 

PS: I know one approach I’ve taken is to attempt to call out problems Pillar by Pillar, you know? Just as when I’m doing my Pillar review, part of what I’m also doing is looking for problems because I need an active relationship with those problems. In fact, I just look at my problem list, which I last reviewed on May 20th. But the time before that was June 19th, 2019—almost a year before, you know? 

And so I realize I need to be more astute and have a more direct relationship with my problems and to respect them as such.

RS: That’s important. Marshall did talk about being in relationship with something. It’s not just: Get an answer; know the truth. It’s you have to be in relationship to something and you have to take a journey towards it. 

So, Mom, you’ve used the phrase health journey, which is to say something’s off in my health. It’s, trust me, it’s not a pill. It’s not nix one thing out of your diet. It’s not…it’s something bigger. Typically, it’s a journey. But you could also have work journeys, relationship journeys, mental health journeys. And that’s to say it is a journey of consistent application and going somewhere that will deliver you somewhere.

PS: And you know, what I think I’ve observed about these journeys that those of us have confided, as I’ve observed the outcome eventually of people’s attention placed on the problem which resulted in the journey, is an incredibly effective outcome—beneficial outcome—repeatedly time and time again, and for myself as well. 

I’ve actually gone back and looked at health journeys that I undertook from 2008 to the present to see really, did they yield? Were they really as needed as I thought they were at the time? And it does appear they were. I mean, I know that’s very subjective, too. But I think these journeys, so to speak, often coalescing around a problem, prompted by a problem with the attention placed on them, we begin to take steps and integrate these steps into our lives and move on and move forward.

RS: That’s good.