Chapter 26 - You And Your Subconscious Mind As Partners In Action…In Relation To Problems

"Problems! Nothing but problems, one after an-other!"

You have known people whose viewpoint on life is expressed that way. They are the ones who scowl at the world and accuse it of producing problems for them, "one after another." They are the ones who look at problems as gloomy clouds hanging over their heads. I am sure that you know unhappy people like that, and you tend to sympathize with them.

Sympathy doesn't solve problems

Perhaps you would be inclined to say, right now: "I do sympathize with them! I know how they feel because I feel that way myself at times." All right, I'll accept the last part of that statement. But I take exception to the "sympathy" idea because it's misplaced in those circumstances. No one with problems needs sympathy. What they do need is. ... Well, we'll get to that in a moment! First, if you understand that example as being "true life," let's see if this one rings a bell, too.

I am painting a word picture of a little incident that is similar to others in which you have played a part. We see a person sitting in an easy chair, relaxed and apparently contented with himself and the world. We see another person walk up to the relaxed one, and say, "Pretty soft! Boy, I wish I were like you, not a care or problem in the world!" Of course, I should ask you if you have played the part of the envious observer, or the part of the apparently carefree one. If you have been such an observer and made a statement like that, then I must tell you that your statement is "off the beam!"

Everybody has problems

If you have been the relaxed one, you should have retorted: "What do you mean 'no problems'? I've got just as many cares and problems as you have!" And it would have been the truth! And if you were really contented with yourself and the world, you would have added: "I've got lots of problems, but I take care of them and they take care of me." If you have not said it, then you should say it in the future, and we'll get to that in a moment, too.

Just what is a problem? Boiled down to essentials, a problem is a question without an easily determined answer! Here's proof. If you are faced with a question, and you find an answer, you have no problem. If you are faced with a question, and there is no apparent answer, you have a problem. Incidentally, these two sentences give you the key to handling problems, any and all problems! Do you see the "key"? Take a guess; you'll probably hit it pretty close. (More "clues" and the "answer" coming up a bit later!)

Do you think that anybody can go through life without coming face-to-face with questions that concern him? Of course not! Well, then, do you think that anyone is ever able to immediately find answers to every question that confronts him? Certainly not! So, it is only simple logic to assume that everybody is going to have problems and have them consistently.

You can live well with your problems

You can take both comfort and inspiration from that conclusion. It should be comforting to know that everybody else has problems and that you have not been singled out as a particularly bedeviled person. You are right in the swing of things since you have problems like everyone else! But it should also be inspiring to you to relate this fact to the knowledge that life is not the same for everybody, despite the fact that everybody has problems. Even casual observation of people you know indicates that some people live well with their problems while others are overcome by them. These two extremes are pictured in the examples I used at the beginning of the chapter. Inspiration can come from the fact that we know why this difference exists. If you know why some people live well with problems, you can adopt their technique for yourself, and do likewise!

Concentrate on answers

Going back to those two examples, why the difference? The difference is that the gloomy person with the scowl on his face is concentrating on his problems, while the person who is relaxed and contented is concentrating on the answers to his problems! It's really as simple as that! This works because concentration on the answers to problems is the positive approach. When you apply positive action to finding the answers, you are "living well" with your problems. Furthermore, you put this positive technique into operation by starting the action with decision. This produces a "1-2-3" formula for making all problems good problems. You will see that there is nothing complex about this formula.

Handle all problems "1-2-3"

Step 1. Decide just what the problem is. Simplify it. Eliminate all the fuzzy negative issues that may have become attached to it. Every problem has one basic question, which is the core of it. Identify that core. As soon as you go into action in arriving at this decision, you have put a positive slant on the problem. Failure to do this tends to let the question grow into unwieldy proportions. When this happens, inferiority complexes are often born of the distorted belief that there is no answer to a problem.

Step 2. After you have simplified the problem, decide what the best answer is. There is a best answer to every problem. Often there is a choice of answers, but only one of them will be the best. Talk things over with yourself, even starting out by saying "I could do this, or this, or this." Assign those possible answers to your subconscious for help. But be assured that concentration on the best answer will reveal it to you.

Step 3. Once you have decided on the best answer, act on it! Remember what the "contented" person said: "I've got lots of problems, but I take care of them, and they take care of me." Obviously what he meant was that he acted in response to the positive best answers. As a result, he turned his problems into achievements instead of letting them defeat him.

Everyone's problems are his own responsibility

About that first example of the person burdened down with problems, you will remember that I said he didn't need sympathy. That could sound as if I didn't feel that this person is in trouble. Certainly he is in trouble, but frankly it is trouble of his own making! Sympathy is not going to help him get out of trouble. It could even tend to make him concentrate more on his problems. What he needs is the cultivation of more faith in himself and the adoption of that "1-2-3" formula. This person himself is the key to whether problems are good or bad in his life, just as it is with you and with everybody else. Again, what is a problem? It's a question without an immediately apparent answer. But between the words "question" and "answer" is the person himself, and his action or lack of it.

Problems answered equal achievement

Don't make a guessing game out of life by living "poorly" with problems. Make a discovery game of it by seeking the best answer to every problem. Turn problems into achievements by acting on answers.
What does all this add up to? The same universal answer that applies to all factors in a good life. This is the practice of self-influence. The problems are yours, and the answers must be yours. The presence of the first, and the lack of the second, results in a negative influence. But the presence of both results in a positive influence. The conversion depends upon self-influence, so you know that you can find the best answers to problems by turning on this power of subconscious concentration. And now you know that you can do it, "1-2-3."

In Sum

Apply self-influence, i.e., decision and action, to your problems.

Turn them into achievements rather than burdens. Decide what the problem is.

Decide what the best answer is.

Act on that answer.
 
Result Getting Projects

Subconscious self-influence cannot be a transitory action in relation to problems. To be effective, it must be as continuous as is the appearance of problems in your life. Therefore, this is not a "one-shot" project. Rather it is something to be adopted as a permanent habit of controlled self-influence. You will begin, of course, by deliberately applying the project to some selected problems of today. But you will anticipate applying it to all problems in the future. This project is as simple as the "1-2-3" formula for conscious action on problems. In fact, it is that formula with the specification, "Assign to your subconscious" applied to each step.

In the process of deciding what a problem really is, assign consideration of it to your subconscious. It will be pleasantly surprising to you to find how effectively this assignment will clear up the question. In the process of deciding the best answer, assign your considerations to your subconscious. Here too, you will discover effective help in establishing priorities that will show the best answer.

When it comes time to act, assign this determination to your subconscious, and let your subconscious be the en-thusiastic supporter of your action. Repetition of this pattern of assignment will soon make it the approved way of handling all problems, and you will have acquired a new positive self-influence habit.

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