10 BENEFITS OF PROBLEMS

Wisdom Nugget: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn...


A nurse was trying to make a baby sleep at night, but her rich experience proved fruitless. The baby was crying and simply refused any incentives. She was exasperated, went to the mistress, and asked for a book from the shelf.

The mistress said, "What is it for?" The nurse said, "I often see the master sitting with a book in hand. He soon dozes off even before he starts reading. I therefore think the book will do the same trick to the baby.

Though a funny joke from the Anthology Of Chinese Humor, this story effectively communicates how problems & pressure brings out our creativity and inventive genius. When your back is to the wall and you are down on your last dime or the house is on fire and you are stuck on the last floor of the six story building, it will shock you to know how many wonderful ideas are locked up in that little brain of yours. Truth is we learn more when under pressure than when under pleasure, when under adversity than under prosperity. This what was David meant when he said "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes"

There is a legend that an ancient despot, out walking, hurt his foot upon a sharp pebble. Thereupon, he ordered his ministers forthwith to have the whole face of the earth covered with leather, that his feet might be protected.

Knowing the impossibility of carrying out that order, and knowing the dire consequences of failing, the ministers took counsel despairingly among themselves.

But one hit upon an inspired solution. After a day's secret work, he presented to the delighted monarch, not a covered world, but a pair of leather sandals.
 Truth is 'Desperate situations always birth desperate solutions"

Problems Are Opportunities, Trust Me

WISDOM NUGGET: "Out of the eater, something to eat. Out of the strong, something sweet."

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In an economy, it would be correct to say that "problems make the world go round!" Why? You ask? Here's the answer.

When I have a problem with my car, the mechanic is paid. When I have a problem with my computer, its the tech guy that makes money. When my clients want to grow their businesses, or have difficulties achieving their most important goals, I get a call - I make money.
Thank goodness for problems!

Michael had a harrowing experience trying to secure a visa to travel abroad. He made frequent visits to the embassy several times. This was annoying as each visit was a nightmare, because he had to wait for long periods; standing in long queues that seemed endless. He was so troubled about this that during one such visit, he noticed an events rental services company close to the embassy premises. Suddenly, an idea was birthed. He simply rented some chairs, moved them to the embassy premises and began to rent them for a fee (almost three times the amount he got them) to people waiting for their turns for interview at the embassy.

Payment for a spot to sit at the embassy became a regular source of income that Michael altogether shelved the idea of leaving the country. He had birthed a business out of the frustration of standing for long hours at the embassy for a visa interview.

Going through this experience was problematic for this young man, no doubt but out of that mess had emerged "something sweet"; a legitimate money spinning venture.

The truth is that if you want to make more money, you MUST learn to love solving more and bigger problems for more people. All over the world today, people do not pay to have problems analysed; they pay to have problems solved.

It was Henri Kaiser who said, "Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." And Theodore Rubin hit the "bulls eye" when he said, "the problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem."

A Song In The Night

Wisdom Nugget: "We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren't crushed. We are confused, but we aren't depressed. We are harassed, but we aren't abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren't knocked out. "

Courage
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Sometimes in life we all go through the proverbial experience summed up in the axiom that says "when it rains, it pours !" That time when it looks like all hell has broken loose over you and your entire world is crashing down on you. Everywhere you turn there seems to be a problem waiting for you and your entire life is a litany of woes. You have no clue what's going on or whether Our Maker is still out there and if He cares. At such times just remember that when the night is darkest morning is near and that weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.

During the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their home. One night as they stayed in a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt reminded her of promises about how things always work out for good. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour. Soon afterward, Gerhardt felt the burden lifted and sensed anew goodness. Taking his pen, he wrote a hymn that has brought comfort to many.

"Give to the winds thy fears; hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head. Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears the way. Wait thou His time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day."

It is often in our darkest times that we learn of the existence of a higher power. Our sufferings and troubles help us see how weak and defenceless we truly are. We can't do everything by ourselves. And when we see this truth, like Paster Gerhardt, we receive new hope. Are you facing a great trial? Take heart. Trust and Obey. Wait a while. Things will get better and who knows, you might receive a "song in the night."

Perhaps, There's A Message In Your Mess

Wisdom Nugget:"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

                                                                                                                                - Albert Einstein.

                                                                                                                         

Joseph Addison had this to say, that “our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments (problems); but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures”

Someone said, "Chance favours the prepared mind." That's the genius behind all great inventions. The following “accidental” inventions by some scientists weren’t prepared for. These scientists did their science on the brink and were able to see the magic in a mistake, set-back, or coincidence.

Alexander Fleming, the accidental inventor of Penicillin - which today is one of the most famous and fortunate accidents of the 20th century arrived at this invention albeit mistakenly. Here’s how it happened, he went on vacation one day in 1928, but didn't clean up his workstation before he did. When he returned, Fleming noticed a strange fungus on some of his cultures; even stranger was that bacteria didn't seem to thrive near those cultures - he’d created “Penicillin”

Penicillin became the first, and still is one of the most widely used antibiotics today.

William Perkin wanted to cure malaria; but instead his scientific endeavors changed the face of fashion forever and, helped fight cancer. Here's how, in 1856 Perkin was trying to come up with artificial quinine. Instead of a malaria treatment, his experiments produced a thick murky mess. But the more he looked at it, the more Perkin saw a beautiful color in his mess. He unwittingly made the first-ever synthetic dye. Which was far better than any dye that came from nature; the color was brighter, more vibrant, and didn't fade or wash out. His discovery also turned chemistry into a money-generating science - making it attractive for a whole generation of curious-minded people. One of the people inspired by Perkin's work was German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich, who used Perkin's dyes to pioneer immunology and chemotherapy.

Here’s one more message in a mess discovery. In 1907 shellac was used as insulation in electronics. It was costing the industry a pretty penny to import shellac, which was made from Southeast Asian beetles, and at home chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland thought he might turn a profit if he could produce a shellac alternative. Instead his experiments yielded a mouldable material that could take high temperatures without distorting. Baekeland thought his "Bakelite" might be used for phonograph records, but it was soon clear that the product had thousands of uses. Today plastic, which was derived from Bakelite, is used for everything from telephones to iconic movie punch lines.

Problems are often minefields for greatness, if we are patient enough to pause for a second and wade through the thick, murky, annoying and unpalatable situations called problems life throws at us – it turns out that most disappointments are blessings in disguise after all.