​Why It’s More Powerful to Focus on the Solution Not the Problem

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

About this time five years ago I watched one of the most fascinating exchanges I’ve seen. It was between Dr Wayne Dyer and Esther Hicks at a Hay House conference as he interviewed the collective consciousness Esther accesses and calls Abraham. He had been a fan of Abraham teachings for many years and was relishing the opportunity to gain some insights from this more abstract level of consciousness within our infinite intelligence.

It is clear in the interview that, as well as acknowledging it in words, Dr Dyer held the Abraham teachings in great reverence. The interview goes on for almost two and a half hours, but my absolute favourite part is towards the end when Dr Dyer, normally the teacher on stage, becomes the student and is shifting uncomfortably as he recognises the wisdom in what he is being taught.

It is a moment of such humanness that it touched me to the core, and the lesson stayed with me. Hay House has just replayed it as part of their You Can Heal Your Life Summit, as they have most years, and I made a point of relistening to it just to hear that lesson again. I’d sum the lesson up as:

Don’t get so stuck in the problem that you continue to feed its energy and exacerbate it, focus instead on the solution and how it will feel to you when there is no longer a problem.

I can only agree wholeheartedly with a review of the conversation when someone named Hank writes “I laughed out loud when Dr Dyer expressed how GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and their corporate manufacturers piss him off. Abraham’s answer is worth the price of the video. Anyone who is an activist can really benefit from taking this wisdom to heart.”

While this is true, I look to that lesson every time anything feels unjust in my life, be it to do with an issue my kids have had at school, a legal stance on natural health remedies or something that is of great public debate. When I feel I am right on some sort of moral grounds and start to feel myself getting hot under the collar, I think of the wise words I heard.

Part of what Abraham was trying to teach Dr Dyer is there are many sides to an argument, and to push against someone is to create resistance, further entrenching them in their position. I know when someone challenges my point of view in an emotive way I can instinctually feel that I get drawn to defend my position. Yet there are usually good points on all sides of an argument and, certainly, one solution does not fit all.

As if to really drive this lesson home again, I got a few extreme reactions to a documentary I shared on social media that was raising some questions about the approach to the current COVID-19 situation. The documentary was subsequently deleted, which I found disappointing especially when there are plenty of videos that attempt to debunk it still live.

Some of the reactions were skewed by one of the points in the documentary, which was questioning the validity and wisdom of mandatory vaccinations. Despite being only one of many points, this immediately invoked extreme reactions on both sides of that debate. So, instead of entertaining that, I posted this:

“I've deleted my posts lest they divert your attention from what I believe is the most important point here.

What I'm most interested in is the freedom of people to express an opinion, and I'm disappointed that big platforms continue to remove things like this. I don't believe in absolute truth versus lies, what popular opinion and science presents as truth continually changes, just as what I personally feel as my own truth continues to grow and evolve.

It’s interesting but very human for people to call a whole documentary crazy sauce because one person featured in it has been debunked as crazy by a faction of society. Our human tendency is to debunk everything someone says if they disagree with our core beliefs or motives in some way. I don't believe nor disbelieve what was said as a whole, but the documentary made some interesting points that resonated with me.

Let us all be free to express our own views and explore others because the only gate keeper of our own truth lies within each of us. Trust that.”

Interestingly, with the topics removed from the discussion, and as if to underline the lesson I had reheard, this new post got far more positive interest than the previous ones. I don’t have a transcript of that interview, but here in summary is what stuck with me from that iconic conversation about GMOs:

Noticing the problem is a good thing, just don’t get stuck there. Dr Dyer spent most of the conversation trying to get Abraham to acknowledge what he saw as the problem with genetically modified foods and was talking about a commitment he had made to actively educate people about the problem.

One person who is actively focused on the solution is more powerful than millions who are not. If you do get stuck in the problem, as is the human tendency to get in the middle of things, eventually (assuming there is enough desire for change) a solution will come about. However, this means enduring a lot of unnecessary suffering.

Dr Dyer was talking about how the fruit being sold on Maui no longer had seeds in it, and Abraham asked him “all the fruit?” “Well” said Dr Dyer, “80% of it.” The answer? “Focus on the 20%, on how delicious it tastes and how good it feels to know the natural fruit can be replanted in the back yard from its seeds for generations to come.”

There is a moment of obvious frustration where Dr Dyer says “But won’t you at least acknowledge the issue?” With that, Abraham challenges him “Can you acknowledge that, on the other side of the fence from where you sit on this, there might have been some benefits to the human race in GMOs?”

Abraham was certainly not advocating for GMOs, the wisdom was instead pointing to an acknowledgement of the many sides to the argument. Even if one of those sides is the economic benefit, as it invariably is, it is a hard task to pit heath against money on moral grounds, the viewpoints on an individual level are far more complex.

In short, Abraham’s advice was to stop beating the drum of the problem and, instead, get out and promote the benefits of naturally grown, delicious foods. That is the approach with least resistance and the approach that invokes the energy of the universe in our favour.

I write these articles in humble acknowledgement that these are my own lessons. While I did not get particularly triggered by the reactions to the documentary I posted, or it being removed, I can admit that I did get very triggered by something of no significance at all on the world stage; an email from one of my children’s teachers about building will.

I think we are all activists on different levels, with different topics really activating our flight and fight responses, be it a niggle in our day to day existence or a debate of global importance. Any issues that activate us, whether big or small, are the ones that most benefit from taking a broader view, focusing on the solution, and creating a vision of the world in which we want to live.  

If you enjoyed reading this, you may enjoy What You Give Your Attention to Is Your Greatest Contribution, Change Unhealthy Reactions and Is This the Opportunity of a Lifetime? If you would like to see or read the exchange mentioned in this article it was released as a book and DVD called “A Conversation Between Master Teachers – Co-Creating at Its Best”. To be the first to receive these posts, you can also opt to subscribe to my blog.