While conversing with my friend Dan, I started thinking about my problem-solving strategy. I think I do sort of have a general way of going about it, but there are some background details that feed into my approach that not everybody accepts.

I feel that my life now involves significantly less suffering/pain/unhappiness, but occasionally I do wonder if I've sacrificed any creativity alongside those things. I felt sort of artistically stagnant the past few years, but it seems to be trickling back in some small ways now. I'm just having to learn how to not draw my only inspiration from negativity.

Anyway, I guess there are a few questions I consider to determine if something is a problem. I could make a flowchart but that would be way more effort than I feel like putting into this.

Starting values:
-Effectiveness over personal comfort
-Understanding other perspectives before imposing my viewpoint
-Openness to possible solutions (versus dismissing something right off the bat)

-How does this make me feel? (This is such a simple question, but it can be really hard to answer sometimes)
-Does this cause me distress?
--->What is the level of distress?
------>Is the distress constructive? (Do I gain understanding etc. through experiencing it?)

-What do other people think of this issue?
--->If they think I should consider it a problem, why?
--->How credible are these people? (This is something I did not consider enough in the past, but I'm working on that)

If something does seem to be a problem:

-Where does the problem originate?
--->External factors?
--->Internal factors?

-How much control do I have over the external factors?
--->What options are available to me?
----->Can I use others as resources?
--->What can I change in my environment?
----->What barriers exist to changing my environment?
----->Even if I can change my environment, should I?

-How much control do I have over the internal factors? (Hint: A lot)
--->How does my perception influence my reaction to the problem?
----->Can I reframe the situation so that it doesn't bother me?
------->How might an outside party perceive the situation?
----->Do I have beliefs/values that are flexible in this area?
------->What values am I not willing to compromise? (Sometimes requires evaluation of my true goals)

Generally I try not to get too worked up over things these days. I feel it's a more productive use of my time to evaluate the situation as thoroughly as possible to see what the limits are and what I can do. Ruminating over things I have no control over (and things in the past that I could've done differently-- counterfactual thinking, in psych terms) increases distress without contributing too much useful information.

Man, I really like making lists of stuff.

And unrelated music:

"Quick!" by The Magnetic Fields (I'm iffy about some of their music, but they have such great lyrics for some songs).

Get me a drink of something quick between your outrageous remarks
Like the mating calls of sarcastic sharks
Quick, before you can't take that back
Just before it all goes black

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