In life, sometimes there are simple statements that just change everything. One of my favorites is from Dr. Phil:
Which segues into:
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Whenever I overhear a mother endlessly attempting to reason with her mutinous child, I feel exhausted for her. "Has that ever worked before?" Ma says tiredly. (If your kid is whining "I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty. I'mthiiiirsty," for the ENTIRE megillah leining, I'm going to have a sneaking suspicion this was not a first-time occurrence.)
Or how some people cook. Some women regularly slave over a stove, feverishly churning out gargantuan portions of various "delicacies" that doesn't appeal to her family, then being—again!—flummoxed at the quantity of leftovers.
Then there is that whole "friend" racket. "I just don't understand why my friend would do that," is a common refrain. The problem is in vocabulary: You call her "friend", but she doesn't understand "loyalty", so by basic definition, she is not a "friend".
These are but a few of a myriad examples when we sometimes have to pause and get real. We often don't truly grasp how much public opinion insinuates into our private thought-process. But our lives are about us, as individuals, and we all have to become aware as to our needs and our wants, which differ, person to person.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins133991.html#J3szsVhRQzrOPbKA.99
I had this thought in regards to Purim. Our Purim story has all the trappings of a fairy tale; a mighty king, a mustachio-twirling villain, a good queen, a wise adviser.
But it's not in the typical Grimm format. Our good queen didn't want to be queen. Let's consider that a moment.
The rest of Persia certainly wouldn't comprehend it. Any five-year-old today wouldn't. You don't want to be queen? Are you high?
Even how Mordechai cautions Esther from shielding her ethnicity. Today we are all about being loud, proud, and Jewish, to the point we think it is a halachic directive to wear a yarmulka on the street with tzitzis flapping in the wind. But Esther had to stay frum on the sly. What would that have been like?
Even how Mordechai cautions Esther from shielding her ethnicity. Today we are all about being loud, proud, and Jewish, to the point we think it is a halachic directive to wear a yarmulka on the street with tzitzis flapping in the wind. But Esther had to stay frum on the sly. What would that have been like?
As I have learned from Rabbi David Fohrman, because we have heard our collective saga on a loop since we were three, we accept the retellings as though even they knew the ending. They didn't. They made choices based on the impossible situations they were in, and they didn't have the option of politically correctness.
If a method isn't working, don't strain and sweat trying to square the circle. Take a step back. Think again.
As long as we are willing to acknowledge the faulty and attempt to improve, the solution may be simpler than we realize.
There is a distinction between technical problems and adaptive problems. A technical problem is a problem for which the answer is known and merely needs to be applied; an adaptive problem requires new solutions, often challenging existing attitudes and beliefs. This is much harder. The classic example given is taking medication to solve a medical problem (a technical solution) versus changing your lifestyle to stay healthy (an adaptive solution).
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I understand there is no reliable source attributing that quote to Einstein, good though it is. (I’m a librarian, it’s my job to be pedantic about such things!)
I had initially thought it was courtesy of Ben Franklin, but google insisted otherwise. Either way's it's good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm not talking about technical issues, per se. I mean the stuff that is inside our control but we refuse to change to make our lives easier.
Like getting up five minutes earlier to make the bus on time.
I meant that you were talking about adaptive problems. Getting up earlier would be an adaptive change, rather than a technical one: it's within our control, but involves a change of behaviour and attitude, so we resist.
ReplyDeleteOf course we resist. But that's not really a good enough excuse, is it? Ergo the post.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree with you. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. I was just saying that there is a reason we resist, although of course understanding the reason is not justifying it.
ReplyDeleteThere's a reason for everything, whether we know the reason or not. When the reason is given too much mamashus, then we don't move on. I wanna kick that reason in the teeth!
ReplyDelete