Everyone has problems. Everyone! You may think it’s just you but we all have stuff go wrong or in ways we don’t like. I do. Recently I had to move my websites to a different server and it messed on up for reasons no one could figure out for a while. My email was down for a day when the guy who transferred it emailed me the new stuff I had to put in to retrieve it, but that email didn’t arrive since my email wasn’t working! It was a weekend and he was out and didn’t get my phone messages till he got home at night. Needless to say, I went a little crazy.

It got to me at first and I lamented to some people. But, I caught myself quickly and when I got aggravated, I affirmed that everything would work out fine. I stopped whining about it to friends and began making my own calls to tech support instead of waiting for others to do it for me. That got me my info to get my email instead of prolonging the aggravation by complaining about it.

Jim Rohn said, “To solve any problem, there are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, whom could I ask?”

I did that and asked, which got my email working and made me feel better than complaining did. Too often we get so immersed in our emotions about a problem that we lose time, energy and perspective that could be used to find solutions. That makes you feel more helpless than you are. Norman Vincent Peale said, “Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.” It’s so true!

Focusing on negatives caused by the problem makes them feel bigger, especially if they become bigger if you don’t do anything. Stress and frustration have a way of magnifying how you see them, which causes more stress and frustration. Stopping to think about what you can do to alleviate the problem puts your energy in a positive direction, and feels a lot better since doing that puts you more in control instead of feeling helpless. Ask:

•    Who can I call to ask for help?
•    What one action can I take to start getting a resolution?
•    Where can I find information that can help my situation?
•    And if there’s nothing you can do: How can I let go and move on?

Norman Vincent Peale said, “Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don’t have any problems, you don’t get any seeds…”

Seeds teach us how to handle situations. And they open us up to new directions to try. Lamenting does nothing but make you feel bad. I know, because I used to be a first class lamenter. Something went wrong and I’d roll it around in my head, whine about it to anyone who’d listen, and work myself up to a very negative state. And I felt like I was being punished for not being good enough. It prevented me from solving problems quickly and kept me in a bad mood. When I left DoorMativille and began to love myself, I realized that lamenting is very unloving.

So as an act of self-love, I became more conscious of my response to problems. Now I make a conscious effort to take a spiritual approach to problems, trusting that they’ll work out fine so I don’t need to worry. I think more clearly and take more actions. When I handled my email problem by calling tech myself, I felt so empowered! It’s made life so much better. I no longer take problems personally since I love myself enough to know I deserve everything good I attract.

Pay attention to how you handle problems. Try to stay positive and use the tips I provided in my post, Staying Positive When Things Get Negative. Love yourself enough to not go to a dark place when life isn’t going the way you want. Life gets better when you change your response to problems!
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Take the self-love challenge and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways for free at http://howdoiloveme.com. And you can post your loving acts HERE to reinforce your intention to love yourself. Read my 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE.

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