For each problem, look for the crux of the issue and find the solution that pulls the rug out from under the problem and leaves it no room to return.
Quite likely, it will also be the most outrageous solution.
That’s okay. You’ll do it in a perfectly natural way, as though this is just the way things have always been done. Don’t bat an eyelid and no one else will.
Why crawl through a problem when you can just leap over it?
Leaping over Covid-19
On 12-21-08, Rabbi Freeman gave an exanple: it was:
Problem: There are Jews who do not know it is Chanukah.
Solution: Light a 30 foot menorah in town square!
Yesterday, Ann in Houston, asked about an outrageous leap during the Covid-19 virus. I would cite technology where there are many examples of use that still maintains Halachah, but done well before Yentif or Shabbos start; just seeing my rabbi's face and hearing his voice provides contact in the new normal. Even though he can't see or hear me, I have said "Gut Shabbos" and waved as he signed off.
I am very cognizant of this today because I will be "attending" a funeral at 11:00 for a friend who passed away peacefully yesterday - Parkinson's. The mortuary who takes care of us is having it streamed live. Ideal? Of course not. In our new normal, however, safety and distancing are maintained and there will be a minyan with community participation.
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Just Go Over It
I first read this Daily Dose on 12-19-08 and actually incorporated it into my life!
I'm a disabled person with left side paralysis ... and one who hates to ask for help. My small problem was in changing light bulbs; I could remove the glass globe, but could not get it back in place - that was the problem.
The solution was to just not use the globe which meant only having to ask for help once. (As light bulbs burned out, they were replaced with the new energy efficient bulbs.)
What can I say? Little things mean a lot. My example may not me “spiritual/religious” but it is practical and works for me.
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G_d gave you the solutions
Amen
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That goes w/o saying! Removing the glass globe required an assist from a human and Hashem provided that help, B"H - also needed a reminder from my rabbi that when I ask for help, it gives another person a chance to do a mitzvah - another lesson, B"H.
Be safe and stay well.
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Light
30ft menorah (laughing here)
Amazingly, how many non Jews know about Chanukah?
Changing tactics works - do not go under, often go over and sometimes simply walk away with grace, trust in the L-rd G-d and he will carry you through.
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Response to Anonymous
The Rebbe Maharash had this saying: "The whole world says, if you can't go under, go over. I say, forget going under, just go over!"
The life coach is the whole world he is talking about--if you can't use a normal solution, try an outrageous one. The Rebbe Maharash was both a mystic and a leader who had to deal with a Czarist regime that was out to break the soul and body of the Jew, and he was a man who ran his life by outrageous solutions.
Like for example, today:
Problem: There are Jews who do not know it is Chanukah.
Solution: Light a 30 foot menorah in town square!
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It's nowhere near Hanukkah. Why apply it to Hanukkah?
Let's apply it to this virus.
What's the outrageous leap?
What should we do?
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Just go over it I don't understand the "spiritual/religious" or introspective aspect to this posting; it almost sounds like something a life coach would say to someone who is desperate. Can you be more specific?...Thanks. Reply
When you are stuck with a problem it is because you have put yourself in a groove from which you can't get out. You are stuck in your limited, familiar reasoning!
To make for an escape, become calm, let all those repetitive old ways of doing fade away.
Then you can leap above your programmed way of thinking into a broader mindspace.
On this higher plane you will find intuition and ingenuity! The solution will appear as if from nowhere! Not within your reasoning but above it!