Family Problem Solving

This week in class we talked about family crisis. There can be a lot of things that can fall under this category. I tried to think of something big that my family has gone through, but nothing came to mind. This doesn’t mean that my family doesn’t have problems. We do. But it means that in my way of looking at things that happened, I never thought that anything was a crisis.

Trials come to every family. Some are brought on by the choices of the members of the family and others just happen due to no fault of anyone. We cannot always control what is happening but we can control how we react to it. The best way is to start early and develop coping skills that could help you and your family through any trial that comes. It’s not always fool proof but it does help in any circumstance. In class we talked about the crown molding in a house and compared it to coping skills. I’m no expert at putting up crown molding but I understand the basic process. You start by putting up the molding on opposite walls. Then you cut the molding for the adjacent walls longer then you actually need. Then you take a coping saw and cut the edges very finely. This allows the corners to go in with no wiggle room and no matter what temperature changes happen there will be no slipping. This process takes a lot of time but so does building up a defense for a family crisis. Time is your best ally. Another aspect of putting up crown molding that we can look at is when you are done cutting with the coping saw you then have to put pressure in the middle. That pressure in the middle helps make sure that the ends are stable and where they need to be. Families can be the same. When pressure comes, we can let the pressure push us closer together instead of breaking us. It takes practice and work. I have no experience with it really, but I do know that for my family, we have never let anything tear us apart. We always seem to come out closure together. It starts with the attitude with which you approach problems with. And you can always change how you look at something too. You are never stuck to one curtain way, even if your family has done it that way for ages, you can change it.

Another thing that I thought was very interesting that we talked about in class is the Chinese word for crisis. The word is made up of two characters. The first means danger and then second one means opportunity. Isn’t that interesting? A crisis is a dangerous opportunity. We can respond in whatever way we choice. Choice to react in a positive way. It is always better.