What is your method to solve problems? Not that I have any problems at the moment – well, none that are dire.
But I have been thinking about how we approach small problems. As you know Amanda is visiting and even though she has been here before there is a lot that she has not encountered. She needs to have her thinking brain turned on all the time.
For example. Every door in each barn is different, some slide, some are two doors one above the other, some are enormous, some so small you duck your head to get though and some have bolts to close them, some have two hooks, some have one hook, some have chains, or dog collars, some are just broken (and on the list) some you have to lift to latch, many of the latches come from different generations and are antiques in every sense of the word, some gates you shove a brick across the front to prop open or closed. So every time she goes through a new door, usually laden with water and feed, she has to look and think and work out how to open and close gates or doors, with animals on the other side, and will be animals be aggressive or bored and dogs jumping across from this side and no hands free and wind and rain blowing in her face. And thinking and problem solving all the time.
So break it down – everything needs to be seen as a small problem to solve. Not a frustration, but a nice little problem. Amanda is a teacher – she is good at problem solving. She does not get frustrated she gets determined. And often we need to be reminded to think OUT LOUD about a problem then methodically and calmly sort through it.
I believe in little problem solving not little problems faced. Our lives, as being a series of problems to be cheerfully solved, sounds so much more doable than a life of problems that we have to stand still and FACE. “Excellent” is my favourite response to a problem.
The farm is popular because most of these problems are quickly figured through. So much of our daily work brings satisfaction. And satisfaction in a simple and good job done well is a core element in Happy. The pursuit of happiness – we will discuss that a another day!
I love to know the name of the problem. Don’t you? We can Identify it. Select a skill or solution. Work it. We all do this quite naturally a thousand times a day. The next step is to use the same mind set and series of steps for the BIG problems.
When you know the name of the problem you can look at the skills you own and the strength you have and the resources at hand then break down and work through that problem. Then call out NEXT!
Because there will always be another one. We are alive after all.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
52 responses to “Problem Solving”
…and I thought I had trouble trying to show people how to stir gravy! 🙂
I love gravy! c
Sounds like all the doors in this house. Of course, there aren’t nearly as many! I do admire Amanda’s gumboots in the photo with Tane and Boo – if you’re going to get cold and muddy, do it in style!
I love your thoughts on problems and solving them. I have always found it very useful to share problems because others often produce the solution quite easily, and I learn so much from seeing how they approach it.
Yes they say a problem shared is a problem halved!.c
My goodness the creek that is really a ditch is trieing to grow into a real river! Problem solving around here lately, has been picking up the phone and getting somebody else to fix – usually at huge cost – how sad is that 😦 Laura
Open or close doors seems to be kind of an art here. 😉 Poor Amanda! You needn’t to learn that skills at your first stay – it was summer!
Thank you, Celi, for your thoughtful post on problems being solved. Whew! That does so good and fits well to me… Can learn a lot of you on that… Stand still and face means to be a victim. Means to be delivered. – I’ll copy and paste your today’s words, I’ll print them out and hang the paper on my wall! It so so good to learn. Daily…
I wish you the “problem” of cleaning after the storm being solved happily together! Have a lovely day you two!
P-S : Did you ever see the beaver again? Is he still there or did he move?
Sadly the men with a big digger came and scooped his dam out when they were clearing out . ditches- so he moved on. I was pretty sad
Hm. Me too. 😦
I love this “And satisfaction in a simple and good job done well is a core element in Happy.”
Great post and yes while we have huge problems right now – breaking them into small tasks and working those tasks is the only way to move forward. My friends and I have a saying “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Great saying and makes sense! c
Problem? What problem? By the time i had read all the ways to open and shut a gate or door..I had a problem trying to remember which brick goes where. Its a good thing that Amanda’s brain is a lot younger than mine and can cope with these things…your brain , of course, is acclimatized (spelling) to these everyday gate and door problems. have a great day Miss C…and don’t forget to shut the door!
Ha ha ha .. morning patrecia.. c
Finding a solution to our problems is a good workout for the brain I think! Keeps us on our inventive toes!
Christine
Inventive toes! YES!! c
Just love the header picture Celi! Gorgeous! Doors….and remembering to place the locking wires, carabiners, or whatever has been created to keep them closed in crucial, that’s for sure! Especially after seeing our escapee goats happily frolicking in the yard a few months ago eating our apple trees, partying, and having a ‘big ole time’! 🙂
I live in terror or the cows getting out so like you I don’t mind over latching! c
Good morning. My small challenge today is getting to the coffee pot with my son and his lovely pregnant wife working out breakfast in my small kitchen! What a lovely problem!
That IS a lovely problem which reminds me – I NEED coffee! c
Oh goodie! A baby for you!!! Lots of love, Gayle
Celie, I think your name should go up on the philosophers’ Wall of Fame, alongside Plato, Descartes and the like. You are an example to us all.
I suppose Amanda didn’t learn about doors when she was there in the summer because they were all open all the time. I can’t imagine how a barn can have so many doors!
Love,
ViV sos
Well there are two big barns, the rat house and the field and garden gates.. all together quite a few hinges to keep oiled! c
I love the perspective of looking at a problem head-on and thinking, “Excellent” … it’s a challenge…a game to be played! This kind of thinking can change your entire day!! Well done!
When i run big shows people would come to me with a problem and I would say Excellent and they would say “I knew you were going to say that!”
Well you know how I solve problems – sing at the top of my voice to Meat Loaf LOL. But seriously, sometimes when a problem seems difficult I find by switching my brain off and doing something out of the ordinary for a while, gives the grey cells time to re-arrange themselves and when I return to the ‘problem’ I see a better solution. Of course that doesn’t help when you have your hands full, the rain is slashing down and you are trying to open the hen house gate, which all that rain has swollen the wood, whilst your feet are slipping out from under you in the mud! “Life is a Lemon and I want my Money back!” LOL
Yes, pausing and rethinking is an excellent way to look at a problem from another direction.. c
It has been said that methods of problem solving defines a society, or sub-society. I love your attitude of, “Excellent! Next?” lol… I will try to absorb that one. I suppose, too, that life’s series of problems to be solved on a farm are so satisfying because you MUST solve each one each day, due to the dependence of the animals on your moving past them to the next.
Goodness sake, that is a tremendous mess from the trees! Is it all small branches that have broken and fallen off, and does it appear the trees will all survive without too much loss? I am thinking about that bon fire again… lol I know they’re horrible things, but so good to have hot dogs over an open bon fire. And your creek that is really a ditch, as someone else pointed out, is quite full… Hope it has an opportunity to empty out before the next freeze comes along.
Hope your day is a lovely one too! ~ Mame 🙂
You have plenty of problems to solve. The first picture of the downed branches identifies one.
I have a link for you of the precipitation for the recent storm. It shows the water equivalent of rain, snow, ice, etc. You were ‘blessed’ with abundance. http://www.weather.gov/images/dvn/Past_Events/2015/1228/rain_regional.png
Thank you what an excellent link – it looks like we had quite a bit of precipitation here – the fields look like it too!