White Bubbles and Intractable Problems

When I envision an Intractable Problem, I envision one of those White Bubbles that cartoon characters have above their heads when they talk. But instead of the White Bubble being filled with the words of a cartoon character, I envision the White Bubble being filled with the Intractable Problem, you know, one of those problems that just will just not go away, that follows you where ever you go and that affects everything you do, sorta. Interestingly enough, what I have noticed is that it is not the Intractable Problem that never goes away, it is the White Bubble. The White Bubble is always there, waiting to be filled and filled it will be. Caring for my mother use to be an Intractable Problem - it never went away and I never succeeded in doing it well. When my much more capable sister moved and took over the job, the Intractable Problem went away. Except, I noticed that the White Bubble was there waiting to be filled and as I said before, filled it would be - with my current Intractable Problem.

What can we make of this? Well, I would propose that we be careful not to let the current Intractable Problem define our life, knowing that we will always have an Intractable Problem. If we define our lives by living to eliminate the current Intractable Problem, we will never live. The job of the Intractable Problem is to consume us. We must not let Intractable Problem have its way. We are the ones who are to define our lives and we must not let Intractable Problem take over that responsibility.