AN INSIDER'S VIEW OF PROBLEMS
What is a problem? Since problems do not exist ‘out there’ in the world, but inside of a person’s mind as their thinking and their interpreting regarding what is ‘out there,’ problems are functions of thinking, meaning-making, and languaging. That’s really significant. Take a moment to think about t
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AN INSIDER’S VIEW OF PROBLEMS
“The limits of our language is the limits of our world.” Wittgenstein
What is a problem? Since problems do not exist ‘out there’ in the world, but inside of a person’s mind as their thinking and their interpreting regarding what is ‘out there,’ problems are functions of thinking, meaning-making, and languaging. That’s really significant. Take a moment to think about that and what it means for you as a coach and how you work with people. A problem arises due to how a person thinks and talks.
In fact, if you want to keep a problem alive and well so it bothers you regularly, you have to talk about the problem and you have to talk about it in a certain way. “Problems must be talked about” wrote Jan S. Efran in Language Structure and Change: Frameworks of Meaning in Psychotherapy. He then noted that perhaps this is why children get over problems pronto and adults do not. Adults are more apt to linger over their problems by keep talking about them and not in the most effective ways. We have the capacity to talk ourselves into all sorts of problems.
