Wednesday, July 24, 2013
STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. GATHER. LEARN.


 


Nursery School, Pre-School, Kindergarten, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, College and for some, graduate school and beyond…   The truth is we never stop being students if we look at being students of life. Life is a school.  But quite often we shut off our learning and we end up in a place where we’re just in a habitual stagnancy phase that never seems to end.  What ends up happening is responsibility takes over and it seems that the only learning one does is through the school of hard knocks and learning lessons from life events. 

And while that is not a bad thing, it really shouldn’t be the only thing we define as learning.
Learning is misunderstood.  Some people think learning only has to come from a book.  Some people think learning only can happen in a classroom.   But if you’ve ever spent time in a discussion circle gathering with those of like mind – you will find that even if you share like interests, minds can be extremely diverse and you can end up learning more about those you are gathered with and celebrate differences just by learning about them.

Gathering for social causes, charitable events and simply standing up for what you believe in and what your passion is, can often trigger conversation in unique ways.  Something that we often forget to do is to learn as we go.  We think discussions are just that, discussions.  But it is in being open and being ‘present’ to the conversation, we can not only learn more about life and about others, but we can often learn more about ourselves.   

It is in learning about ourselves, we are given the platform to grow.  We don’t always think about this and sometimes miss opportunities to value what is going on around us and even the most simple of conversations that we have.   We are given the gift of more than mouths to talk.  We are given the ability to LISTEN and HEAR and with that comes paying attention long enough to actually learn something.   While you may not think you can actually learn something from small talk, sometimes you really can.  If you take a moment to think about how we each have the opportunity to take in our day cherishing a brief moment of laughter or a shared view or shared value or even a different perspective to open our minds to other ways of thinking – we can learn quite a bit. 

So the next time you have the opportunity, stop in your tracks. Pay attention to what is going on around you and especially what is really happening during a conversation you are having.  If you learn something pass it on.  For all you know, you can be helping someone and be providing the very answers they have been looking for in all those books and classrooms that only YOU can provide.

~ Athena & Tess – We Solved It
SOLUTIONS for everyday PROBLEMS






Monday, July 22, 2013
THE BLANK SLATE






The title alone invokes a myriad of thoughts and emotions.   Some will rejoice in it.  Others will feel lost without anything on it.  Some will want to draw all over it anew.  And others still will want to immediately fill it up with only the familiar so there is no void. 

The slate.  We all have one.  And depending on our perspective, we can look at it through different eyes and with different ideas, feelings and plans.

What if you were diagnosed with cancer, and suddenly given a blank, clean slate and clean bill of health, being told you were in remission and now could do anything you wanted?

What if your blank slate was a second chance at correcting and righting a wrong?

What if your blank slate was real-life opportunity and you could have the awareness that you can fix any dysfunctional relationship in your life you had with your parents, your family, your friends or co-workers and how you relate to one another?

What if you had a blank slate of total sobriety, clean and free of drugs, alcohol and other vices to change your life in a healthy way for the better?

What if you lost all your material possessions in a massive tornado and storm, but you were still left with the gift of life?

What if your blank slate was a wake-up call to recognizing ways you could improve your mind set, shift perspective in how you approach your life?

What would YOU do with your blank slate?  Do you know?

Do you realize that all the petty things people complain about daily can all be fixed if you choose to make the shift both literally, consciously, pro-actively and do something different, be better than you are in this moment by not being consumed by things that are a waste of your time, your heart, your energy, your focus, your efforts and instead invest them in a positive way toward such a shift? 

Here at We Solved It - we are solution-oriented.  We want to constantly think with the problem-solving frame of mind no matter what the topic is.  But we realized that whether it is something wrong with your car, or something wrong with a door hinge at your home, or if it is a problem at work or if it is a problem with your cell phone --- much like anything in life, things can be fixed.  And so can our relationships with situations, problems and sometimes even people, it just requires communication.  


When people feel 'broken' - it has much to do with the way they look at life.  While shifting life perspective is not easy, it can be done.  Even if it means that you have to have the courage to eliminate the toxic energy that doesn't align with who you are, who you are becoming and where you are going with this new slate.   The situation is not always personal when we have to cut strings.  But is a human instinct to be nostalgic and hold on tightly to things that are merely memories and it is only the memories which fortify us, not the current situation which may have changed direction.  Some people feel this way with jobs or where they live or even with friendships. 

What most people fail to do, is realize that sometimes it is not just EXTERIOR….sometimes we need to release and let go of the INTERIOR and  that means comfortable programming, lies we tell ourselves and how we justify what we do and how we behave or respond or react.   This is a reality check.  If the old behavior you have and your ideals and personal structure isn’t working for you – you are unhappy.  If you release your own negativity and baggage and work internally on how you think and what you believe to be the causes of the root of all your problems, sometimes the true answer is being honest with your true self.  Most people shy away or get defensive about this because it is confrontational.  The more they deny there is something wrong, it becomes glaringly obvious that there really is something wrong they don’t want to look at. 

Sometimes it is necessary to break free from a cage in order to fly.  And that cage sometimes is the weight of situations which no longer match who we are now.  But it is erasing and eliminating the fear of change that enables us to embrace change and shift and grow.

It is human to fill your 'voids' with 'things'... and that isn't just substances or material items, it can also be in regard to getting swept up into drama - beit everyone else's or your own. 

Life is short.  And while there may not seem like enough hours in the day to fix or solve all problems with the world, the ones that we are able to solve, fix, resolve are ones that we all can take on ourselves to tackle and approach with a solution-oriented frame of mind in all things and in all situations.

You can.  You can do it.  But it’s up to you.  And no one is going to help you.  You need to make the conscious choice for yourself to want to have the blank slate that you can begin anew again with and make continuous efforts to no longer point fingers of blame at everyone else for the daily choices you make for your slate.

The time is now. It is up to you.  And change can happen, but it begins with each of us.


~ Athena & Tess – We Solved It
SOLUTIONS for everyday PROBLEMS