" Every problem contains within itself ..........the seeds of its own solution "
Just last week, I was helping my Mum cleaned up my Brother's house ( they have temporarily relocated to China due to work & are coming back for a couple of months to stay ) As we were about to leave & lock up....we noticed an alarm light is on indicating that one of the house many windows were not shut tight.
Not knowing which window, we began to check everywhere, as we opened one of the Study Room which is sort of converted to a Temp Store with pieces of Furniture plastic wrapped & stacked up. To our big surprise, we saw a Black Minah Bird perched on one of the bundled up mattresses.
We wondered how long since it had flown in, as we certainly did not clean this particular room! If we have just leave it, the poor bird would have died of starvation! With that thought I slowly approach it with a kind intent to free it from it's prison.
As I was about to reach it, it quickly flew away to hide itself in a tight corner, cleverly evading its capture. Not knowing that I wish it no harm other than to help. But atlas, no matter how hard I tried to catch it, it will quickly move away & hide itself.
At one point I almost got it in my hand, but that stupid, stubborn little black bird started to poke at my hand with its yellow little beak & at the same time madly flapping its wings, screaming away with its little sqeakes.
At that frustrated moment, I almost wanted to give up let it be ( let the bird have its way & die inside that storeroom. We have since shut all the windows, chasing the frightened bird around that tiny enclosed space have caused me to perspire like a fattened pig.
Out of desparation, I thought to myself how to solve this problem....a sudden flash of inspiration came across my mind. I remembered a certain quotation that Dr. Mark Mckergow used during his recent workshop on " Solutions at Work " which goes like this " When you INSIST,...I RESIST " by Anon.
Insist I did, Resist that stupid bird did, vigourously indeed ! So I changed tactics, I opened the windows wider, pulled up the certains higher & walkaway ....retreat to the doorway. Sure enough that pecky little black bird flew up to perch itself on the top of the mattress facing the wide open window.
Still refusing to move out, I took an umberalla nearby and suddenly opened it to chase the frightened bird out off the window. I quickly closed the window & lock it shut with a sigh of relief. As it was already almost an hour later since then. More was done with less effort indeed!
I want to share this little incident as it will certainly help to remind me that we need to let go of our presupposition & our many assumptions when we are dealing with a troubled client. And certainly not to problem solved it on their behalf, battling out possible solutions or labeling whatever situation the client may be in instead of letting them come to their own realization on how to go about solving their own whatever issues that they may have.
Until & unless our client is able to see for themselves & recognised what kind of precarious situation they are in, especially mandated clients, they will resist with all their might the kind efforts we make to reach out to them ( just like that little black bird who were very resourceful in evading its capture ! )
Albert Einstein once said that " No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it ! "
I would like to borrow a summary from " The Solution Focus " book by co-authored by Dr. Mark Mckergow & Paul Z Jackson, which says...
The trouble with traditional approaches to people problems is that they assume a straight-forward relationship between cause and effect, between a problem and its solution. The Soultion Focused Approach sidesteps the causes of trouble and heads straigth for the solution, which is both revolutionary and yet provides a radical alternative, showing you how to envisage your desired future and move swiftly towards it.
In the above trapped bird incident, I have applied two very critical principles in Solution Focuse Method. I stop doing what obviously was not working at that instance and shifted my focus into allowing room of self-exploration instead my dictated " I know better,problem solving " trance.
Now I truly understand what was the meaning behind this quote from Dr. Lin Yutang, a 20th Century Taoist Scholar, which says " Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone! "
