Gaining clarity is the first step towards solving an issue, any issue.
Unless you know what’s going on in your mind, you cannot do anything about it. All because you’re blissfully unaware of it.
Most of the time, the problems surrounding us are not the issue. The real issue is that we don’t take the time to define them. We don’t spend enough time to gain clarity and look into the issue or the problem troubling us. Then we wonder what’s happening, why are we stuck, and why the problem is persisting despite our best efforts. In other words, we live in a world of haze and ambiguity. And out of vagueness, no solution can come.
I often wondered if there was a tool I could use to gain clarity about certain aspects of my life.
The good news?
There is one.
It’s a tool that you can use to get clarity about different areas of your life almost instantly. This wonderful tool can help you pinpoint the actual issue creating problems. It’s a nice little book, titled, Travelling Free: How to Recover from the Past by Changing our Beliefs by Mandy Evans.
This book has a writing exercise anyone can do to get clarity on any subject. I won’t go into detail but here’s the essence: This book says that to solve an issue, it’s important not to force yourself to come up with a solution. The vital part, however, is to “clarify” what is it that’s troubling you. Because quite often what we believe to be true turns out to be false.
Here’s the outline of the writing exercise (not the exact method):
Take a pen (or pencil) and a notebook. Write down the date, and then write in block letters whatever is troubling you. Writing the issue in the form of a question will be better.
For example:
My closet has been overflowing with clothes and other stuff, causing trouble for me. So this is what I wrote in my notebook:
“WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH CLUTTER IN MY LIFE?”
Once you’ve written what you think is troubling you, let the question remain with you. Don’t try to answer it from your logical mind, because doing so will defeat the purpose. The aim here is to recognize the problem or the issue at hand in its totality.
Be with the question. Let it wash over you. And then when you feel like it, put your pen to the paper and write whatever comes to your mind.
Don’t edit. Don’t anyalize. Let the words flow onto the paper.
When you feel you’re done, close the notebook, and sit quietly for a minute or two. Then open the notebook and see what have you written, and you might surprise yourself. You may find out that the problem you think you had was not the real issue.
My experience:
I am glad I did the exercise because it helped me gain clarity about the overwhelming clutter issue. I found out that the reason behind the “clutter problem” wasn’t what I thought it was. The clutter was a symptom of my feeling unworthy. It represented the emptiness in my life.
And guess what?
I had been trying to “fill the void” with clothes and other stuff all this time.
It seems that nothing is what it seems. 😉