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“Don’t pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear . . . just know you’re not alone.” – Phillip Phillips, Home (song lyrics)

“We must teach our children a new way, in order to ensure that future generations will experience the beauty and abundance the Creator has given to us.” – Grandmothers Counsel the World (Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet), by Carol Schaefer.

In the November issue of Science of Mind magazine, there’s an article by Mark Waldman and Andrew Newberg, MD (authors of Words Can Change Your Brain) where they discuss the neuroscience of problem solving. Here is what they suggest when seeking to understand or solve a problem: “Write down three positive solutions for this problem. Meditate on them . . . After five minutes, a fourth solution will often pop into mind. Write it down . . . research shows that you must create three to five positive affirmations and solutions for every negative thought or feeling you generate.”

How might this play out in our lives? A friend of mine, Lisa, offered her situation for this blog. She is working on reducing anger in her life. What I like about her story is that she isn’t denying the problem, trying to find a quick fix, or reverting to old
thinking patterns. After recognizing the problem, she is implementing multiple helpful solutions. She has adopted daily affirmations, she is taking yoga classes, she is going to an acupuncturist, she is seeing a trained therapist, and she has altered her eating habits to eliminate those foods that trigger or aggravate emotional flare-ups.  At present, she is enjoying her yoga experience so much that she has decided to become a yoga instructor! Gradually, she is changing her life—with small, positive daily steps.

Individual change can lead to global change.

What might happen if we applied this method of problem solving to our larger, collective issues? For instance, how can we better nurture, love, and protect our home, Mother Earth? What positive changes need to be made? On a vacation last summer, I found oil globs in the water from a storm that had disrupted the offshore oil rigs. More recently, I visited a state park near a coal-burning power generating plant. It was a bleak, black landscape. Currently, there is no such thing as “clean” coal.

What positive solutions need to rise to the surface to get us away from our dependency on oil and coal? Are we backing research and development of alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power? What daily life changes do we need to implement? How can we conserve our valuable natural resources?

Perhaps we could produce more hybrid-fuel vehicles? We could contribute (time, money, and/or talents) to those organizations working to preserve natural habitat and protect endangered species. We might create more bicycle paths and mass transit systems.

In problem solving, I meditate and ask for spiritual guidance. To increase my knowledge, I seek out people who can teach me ways to live so that I can make
better choices. In my writing, I voice my support for government and industry leaders who employ alternative, lasting, and positive solutions that safeguard this
beautiful and abundant planet: our home.

In joy & gratitude,

Diana