I was listening to a podcast and it was discussing "problems" vs "tensions that need to be managed".
I thought it was a great insight. It was talking about it is correlation to an organization, but I think it has deeper personal/individual implications.
The speaker was addressing that there are problems. Problems are things that need resolution. There is a right and there is wrong. There is finite length to that problem. It isn't eternal.
Then there are "tensions" that need to be managed. They differ from problems because there isn't resolution. They aren't black and white. They are ongoing, and if they are diffused temporarily....they return.
They need to be managed.
I know I've sat in staff meetings, planning conferences, pow wow's, planning periods, etc trying to solve tensions only to be incredible frustrated that they kept rearing their "ugly" head.
THE PROBLEM WAS THEY WEREN'T PROBLEMS.
Problems don't have mature/well-thought-out-counter-points. Problems don't have more questions than answers. If you are dealing with things in your life that do....they are tensions.
and guess what????..... They are healthy for you. You need the counter position to your position. You need that debate. That debate needs you.
Tensions are healthy because they are "gut checks" to see if you/we/them are doing the right things. Tensions are healthy because they combat the inertia that we all struggle with. Tensions are healthy because they are agents of change...they create emotions....which lead to motion.
Think about the situations in your life that you struggle with or those that seem to be cyclical...
.....those are tensions.... they are not looking for solutions.... they are looking for you to manage them..... to readdress as things change..... as you change.
Again this isn't ground breaking, it's defining. Knowing what something "is" is just as important as knowing what something "isn't".
Quit trying to alleviate all the "problems" because some of them aren't "problems" to begin with, they are _________ that you were put here on the Earth to use your energy/soul/genius/daemon on.
Simply Constructive. Never Destructive.
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