No important problem or lesson is ever going to be solved with a bandage approach. That is, salving or treating the surface symptoms of our dissatisfaction or unhappiness. We may feel relief temporarily, but sooner or later we must dig to the very root of any problem to achieve a lasting solution.

This requires some honesty and introspection, and sometimes we just don’t want to face it. We also live in a time where distraction is massively prevalent. We are encouraged to salve our unhappiness with new material toys.

There are good roots and destructive roots within each of us. The trick is to build on the good ones, and heal the ones that keep causing us to hurt our own potential and happiness. We owe it to ourselves to reach for our happiness, but at the end of the day, it’s up to each of us to achieve it. No one is going to hand it to us on a silver platter.

On a larger scale, this idea also applies to our societies. Around the world we are witnessing massive collective dissatisfaction with the way things are being run by our leaders. I see people still falling back on the typical duality A or B thinking to find a solution. “If the usual A isn’t working, then the usual B must be the answer.” It’s the pendulum of history.

But, stop! Are we really examining the cause of the disease? That is where the clues to our growth are to be found. The real answers always lie at the root of the matter.

Inspirational Quotes:

“I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; how singular an affair he thinks he must omit. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all encumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run. ” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you do not like a certain behavior in others, look within yourself to find the roots of what discomforts you.” ~ Bryant McGill

© Susan L Hart 2020 |  Friendly comments welcome | Photo courtesy Felix Mittermeier, Pexels