curing the root cause

I'm sitting here on an early Sunday morning while sipping on my first cup of coffee and flipping through the morning papers for round one of the news scanning.

Wondering about changing attitude.

Trying to figure out how we know when we need a change of attitude. I like to take the simple approach. I figure if we're asking ourself the question, then there's probably some substance to it.

If we're not happy, can we just say "I'm going to change my attitude and be happy."? Think that will work?

I doubt it. Might work for a few days or a week. Then we'd be right back to unhappiness.

I like to take the simple approach.

Find out the root cause instead of treating the symptoms. What is really making you unhappy? Unhappiness is telling you there is something off balance in your life.

The root cause of anything will usually bring with it a whole host of symptoms. Don't treat the symptoms, treat the cause.

For instance, if you were unhappy with your life you might ask "What am I unhappy about?". It might be money, behaviors, house needs repairs, or a host of other things. If you were unhappy about money because you didn't have enough, what would you do about it? If you had more money would that fix the problem? Or are you needing more money to fill a problem area elsewhere?

Like maybe you feel you need more money because you buy things you don't really want or need because it makes you feel a bit better about yourself. Well, in that case, money is not the cause. Low self-esteem is the cause. But don't stop there . . .

Ask yourself what's the cause of your low self-esteem. Keep asking questions until you find the root of the problem. Then take care of the REAL cause.

The discovery and healing of root problems in life are not all about using money to flush it away. It is much much more than that. It comes from inside of you.