“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Einstein said that, and he was kinda smart.

But where is Einstein when I’m stuck in my problem-creating thinking?

Hey, Mr. Smarty Pants. How do I get to the different thinking that’s going to be make everything better? Huh? You make it sound so simple. But it’s not! Also, what’s up with your hair? Do you not own a mirror? Is that why it got so out of control? No? No answer on any of this, eh?

I’m no Einstein, but I did recently have an experience that taught me something about lifting myself out of the problem and into the solution.

As with many problems in this digital age, my dilemma involved a program on my computer. Photoshop, to be exact.

I recently got a new laptop. Yay! My old laptop was over seven years old, so a new laptop meant lots of updates. Including updating my beloved Photoshop. Yay!

Well, Not Yay!

Updates mean changes and, in this case, changes meant problems.

I use Photoshop for lots of things, but my primary focus is my cartoons. It was while working on a new cartoon in my new, updated Photoshop that I encountered a dilemma.

A process I do all the time – adding text and speech bubbles to my cartoons – didn’t work. I looked online for a solution and found out there was a glitch in Photoshop that created the problem I was dealing with. I also found several solutions to that glitch. None of which worked for me.

I had a long list cartoons to work on, all of which needed text and speech bubbles. But I couldn’t work on any of them! Not one! It was driving me crazy!!!!!

It was at this point, frustrated to the max and feeling absolutely entrenched in my problem, I realized I needed to step away.

Does that mean I did step away?

No. No, it does not.

My frustration led me to continue to bash my head against the virtual wall that was Photoshop. Again and again and again.

Finally, I gave up.

That evening, as I was meditating, I realized I had forgotten to ask for Help. Duh!

I have a well of Divine wisdom within me. An all-knowing Source that’s guaranteed to get me to that next level of thinking. But, stuck as I was in my problem, I totally forgot to open myself up to Its answers.

So I asked Spirit for help. Plainly and simply. And then I went back to my meditation.

I didn’t get an answer right away. But I knew one would come.

The next day, I fired up Photoshop once again. As I did, I had an idea.

A new idea.

An inspired idea.

My problem with Photoshop had to do with the upper portion of the picture I was editing. The Photoshop glitch meant that the text disappeared in the top of the document.

So I turned the document upside down.

The text I needed to insert was now in the bottom of the document. Sure, I had to put the text in upside down, but that was easy to do. It was an outside-the-box solution to an otherwise-intractable problem.

Thank you, Spirit!

As I contemplated the beauty of the solution I was given, I realized it applied to other areas as well.

When in doubt, turn the problem upside down.

See the situation from the other person’s perspective.

Approach the difficulty from a new angle.

Start at the desired outcome and work backwards.

There’s another “turn that problem upside down” solution that’s emerged for me over the years. It involves the release of judgment.

I’ve found that sometimes what I’m seeing as a problem is simply a matter of judging something that’s actually not a problem at all. Whoah. That’s been a particularly powerful awareness for me. (In fact, I wrote a blog post about it, which you can read here.)

The more I ponder the whole “Turn the Problem Upside Down” solution, the more I see that sometimes upside down is right side up. I was looking at the situation the wrong way the whole time, and I finally turned it the right way.

I like to think that Einstein would dig my Photoshop remedy. That it would support his idea about problems and solutions.

That still doesn’t explain his hair, though.

What’s your experience of turning problems upside down? Share your comments below!

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