The Magic Of Home

So much of success with a problem is how you speak about it. There is a big difference between how a musician will be drawn back to the home key, and the way someone who thinks they have failed will say' back to square one'. Square one could just as well be going back home to re-orient, to let the chords reemphasize that you are in a good key. When I used to teach math to grade school children I would teach them the strategy of backing up until they were in the safety zone of 'what they knew'. Then they could try to figure out what to do with the problem again, usually successfully.
Life is full of risk and we do have to take risks. But being able to 'go home' is a good way to deal with risks. A meditation I sometimes use is to meditate on my problem as a sheet of ice. As I meditate I see the meditation as warm awareness that will melt the ice as the solution to the problem presents itself. Last night I was trying to do an outline for the plot and chapters of a children's book I want to eventually write. I meditated on the problems and the answers came. These were problems that I had been having trouble with for a couple of days. I don't have time to write that particular book right now but I needed enough written down that I wouldn't lose the idea when I do have time to get back to it. Meditation, do-lists, conversations with friends, singing about a problem, journaling are all ways that are comforting to me when I need to 'go back to square one.' I don't feel any sense of failure at doing this. It is just my way of going to my comfort zone to grab onto the spark of magic that will help me with my life.