What is the real problem you are trying to solve?
Recently, I wrote a post for dotmagis over at IgnatianSpirituality.com about this exact question. It’s a question I learned to ask over twenty years ago as I battled to pass Freshman Physics in college.
The question was first introduced to me as a way to solve challenging physics problems but it evolved over time to become relevant to solving life problems (both big and small) as well.
Lately, I’ve had a lot of decisions to make and so I’ve been revisiting what I know about Ignatian discernment and this question. I know now that I need to start my discernment by figuring out the real problem, the root problem I am trying to solve. Otherwise, I may waste so much time going in the wrong direction.
How often, when we have something to solve or figure out in our lives, do we waste time focusing on the wrong problem? As I addressed in the article, my focus at the time was passing Physics but that wasn’t close to being the real problem that needed solving in the end. I wasted over a decade on the wrong problem.
This morning, as I sit down with my planner and think about all i am discerning right now, I am praying for the grace of wisdom. May God direct my efforts and yours this day so we may focus on the real problem, the root problem that needs focus in our lives. Only then may our real discernment begin.
(I drew this planner image in procreate while I worked on today’s #doodleadayfeb theme #heart by @ellolovey.)
(You can find the whole dotmagis article here.)
