Awareness

"Awareness unlocks our potential. As our awareness grows, so we grow. Whether you face a major crisis or just want to make things better, new awareness makes all the difference. Re-frame, restate and reform how you look at your current situation to reveal something new that might have been hidden. As we change our view of the situation, we can discover new forks in the road." Don Shapiro, author Life Is A Fork In The Road

This is why counseling was so important for me...I didn't have clue and needed someone to help me see the forest through the trees.  I bring a problem to my counselor with the express purpose for getting a different perspective.  If I could figure it out on my own, I wouldn't ask.  Now, I am blessed with the additional feed back from you, my readers.  Comments left on my question about weight really helped me to take a new look at what was bothering me about people noticing I am loosing weight.  A combination of validation and suggestions helped me to re-frame my challenges with people noticing I am loosing weight.  I also discovered that I do not have the negative reaction when people I trust notice my weight change.  At the beginning of counseling, I could describe my perspective as similar to tunnel vision and it all looked black.  Re-framing, restating, and reforming are all ways of changing how a problem may look.  KavinCoach taught me to ask myself several questions:

The person with the discomfort is the person with the problem, who is uncomfortable with the situation?

Is the problem my problem, or is someone else attempting to make it my problem? (Sometimes a boss can legitimately make a problem mine by assigning me to solve it.) 

Is the problem worth solving? (Yup, I discovered some problems are not worth solving....better to just walk away.)

Is it possible for me to solve the problem? (Some problems, like earthquakes, are totally outside of my ability to solve.)

I use these questions to start me rethinking about a situation and how I can resolve issues, challenges and problems in my life.  Sometimes a new perspective makes all the difference.