When you do something, you have a thought first, yes? You say to yourself, "I am thirsty. Where's the fountain [a 'bubbler' for you Wisconites ;‑)]?" Then you go get the water that you need to satiate your thirst, yes? You have an itch, you say to yourself, "I have an itch and need to scratch it." then you do. Yes? You are not conscious you are doing this — but you are doing it. Sometimes you are conscious about these preceding action thoughts and sometimes not, but they are there, and you could be aware of them if you wanted to, right?

ZESTOID: All of your actions are preceded by thought. YES!

What is a Problem?

A problem is a distance. I am in this place and need to be in THAT place. The distance is a problem to be solved in answer to the question: "How do I get there?" Some problems are simple like that. But getting there could be another problem inside the first problem. I am here in Florida and I need to be in NYC tomorrow and I have no money for a plane ticket. What can I do? "What can I do?" is you serving notice to yourself that you are now entering the consciously chosen Arena of Problem-Solving. If you have to be in New York bad enough, you will solve this problem by borrowing the money, begging it, trading for it, hitchhiking, etc. And each of those proposed solutions you will have to think before you do it, yes? You don't just suddenly materialize into the cab of an overnight Mack truck heading to NYC! You have a distance between you and getting the driver to pick you up.

So. Very often problems are bundled together — means to an end kind of problems. The end or objective is Blah and I will have to figure out (problem-solve) how to get some Blah so I can rent a Blah so I can arrive at Blah.

ZESTOID: Problems are needing something other than what you have.

ZESTOID: Problems are often wrapped in a bundle of sub-problems.

ZESTOID: Problems all need some form of thinking to solve them.

HUGE ZESTOID: I make thoughts, including the ones that can lead to solving problems.

Where do the "thoughts" that solve problems come from?

I make the thoughts I have. I may copy, borrow, or heed someone else's thoughts but they do not appear in me until I think them. Originating my own thoughts is rare. We usually are duplicating someone else's thoughts. I have patterns (group of thoughts) that I have learned to follow in certain situations, but: I still have to OK them! My mother told me to do this a certain way, and I always do it that way. Yes, you could say, My Mommy Made Me Do It! Alas, the truth is:

ZESTOID: I am the final decision-maker of what thoughts I entertain.

You may not consciously be aware of how it happens, but thoughts suddenly "pop" into your head, yes? You cannot control that. In a sense you could, but for the most part — 99.9999% if the time — we have no control over the thoughts that pop into our heads.

ZESTOID: We DO control which thoughts we will "entertain" or allow to grow stronger in our heads/minds/hearts inside this thing we call ME.

In other words, I may see someone attractive and get "turned on" by their appearance, and that canNOT be helped. BUT: we control the next thoughts that follow, i.e., "I wonder what it would be like to be with her/him?" "I bet it would be exciting!" "I wonder if I should go talk with them?" "Boy, he/she is just gorgeous!" "I MUST go talk with him/her!" "I am going to walk over there and strike up a conversation!" All of these thoughts are yours and come from deciding to entertain or expand on the first thought. That we must be accountable for. We try to avoid responsibility for these thoughts by using words in some form of 'had to'. "She was so gorgeous that I had to talk to her." "The cake looked so fabulous; I just had to have a bite." "I hate family reunions, but I have to go."

Musts, Shoulds, Ought tos, Have tos, are patterns of thought — that I must choose to accept and entertain if anything is going to happen. No one else can make me do it.

Think on all this until next time. Start watching your thoughts. Keep a little journal in your head (or write it down for that matter) of what you notice in regards to YOUR thoughts preceding YOUR actions.

Learn about you. The answer lies within.

See you soon!

You may write me at Doc@DoctorZest.com or Twitter.

"We are so powerful that we can convince ourselves that we are not — then make it come true." — Doctor Zest (Primary Domino Thinking – purchasable at http://www.doctorzest.com/products/index.html

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