Seems like we're constantly struggling for better understanding. Understanding of ourselves, of our problems, of the people around us.

So how's that working out for you?

While it may be comforting to have a better handle on what's going on all about you, and awareness is almost always better than being oblivious, understanding may be seriously overrated as a tool for resolving personal problems.

Here's a little secret about such problems: the cause is almost never where you think it is. I'll say more about that in a second, but here's the point. Knowing more and more about your problem is filling your mind with facts about a symptom rather than a cause. It's massive misdirection which can produce amazingly few results for the energy expended.

On the rare occasion when I hold a teleseminar or workshop, one thing I do NOT do is waste our time together on explanations, facts or theory. Instead I virtually always go straight for direct experience... letting each attendee interact with their own subconscious beliefs and habits of thinking.

Here's the thing — if you want explanations and information about living a better life, you can walk over to your bookcase and pull down dozens (maybe hundreds) of volumes that you already own. They're packed with information. Or you can access your own hard drive and pull up gigabytes of PDFs, MP3s and videos from many excellent teachers and gurus. And after all these years of study, your head is also a treasure trove of knowledge.

But if all that knowledge and information were actually effective, you would have already solved most of your problems by now.

So is it time to switch strategies? It's possible.

Consider. If the blockage doesn't lie in the problem, then where is it? Well, what's the common denominator in all your problems? What is the one thing that all your problems have in common?

You.

You are present in every one of those problems. So maybe it's time to take a closer look at you, rather than invest more years in understanding the problems that are (still) clustered all around you.

This concept is at the heart of most really effective therapies. Instead of endlessly contemplating the navel of your feelings and past experiences, an effective strategy will always do something to move you out of your old, accustomed ways of thinking. Instead of reaching "out there" to solve difficulties, it will help you discover a new way to relate to your own attitudes and relationships to the situations you find yourself in.

Remember this: removing the power from old problems can often be as simple as experiencing things in a fresh new way. This allows us to see things directly and clearly, without having to look through the filter of old biases and assumptions. At that point, the old thinking tends to fade away with little or no struggle.

How does this happen? What's the magic behind such a strategy? Actually, there's no magic at all.

It's simply a matter of giving ourselves a new choice, an alternative way of thinking about our situations.

A choice. Simply that. Once we have that new choice, we are no longer stranded in the old, well-worn rut... unless we want to be.

Naturally, we COULD choose to continue doing things the old way, the way that has kept us feeling powerless. That's one choice.

But now we also have a new choice, one that doesn't force us through suffering, pain, confusion and discomfort.

So gosh... let's see now... which way to go...
 

Next, watch Charles Burke's series of 3-minute videos titled "Beyond Luck."  Each of the 21 videos also includes a simple Do-This exercise to power up your new skills quickly. Click to www.BeyondLuck.com now for your videos, plus 3 special reports. I'll see you there.