Leonard Pitts, the Miami Herald columnist recently wrote an interesting column where he acknowledged that most of his writings expose the entrenched problems in our society such as violence, poverty, fatherlessness, miseducation and racism. And while all of these are very important issues and definitely problems that are rampant in our society today, in this writing he highlighted his desire to use more of his columns talking about solutions and "What Works".
As I read it, a huge smile came to my face! There are solutions out there and that's where we need to be putting our attention! It's so easy to focus on problems--and it is necessary to recognize them but if 90% of the time is talking about problems and only 10% on solutions--its not hard to figure out why nothing much changes! I laud his shift in direction--it is a move away from the 0-5 reactive/victim and towards the 6-10 proactive/self-responsible/choices we can make.
Life Puzzle is all about staying focused on solutions! Long ago--when what would become the Life Puzzle model was but a twinkle in my eye, I remember asking one of my college professors--"How come we spend so much time learning how to fix broken people but we spend almost no time learning how to help people not get broken in the first place?" And she laughed at me and said, "Well, it sounds nice to help prevent these problems, but the truth is, these problems are so overwhelming--all we have time to do is catch them as they fall!" And I remember thinking--but if you never give people a new model (prevention, wellness, whole life making), then they can never change the old patterns! Sadly, we have stayed fixated on problems.
And so Mr. Pitts' call for "What works" is to look for solutions or new models that people can put their focus and attention to in creating a world that works. For me, it is a big, "Yes, finally!" because that's what Life Puzzle is--a solution that can work for everyone. It is a universal model for creating whole and dynamic lives and helps people focus their time and energy on this planet towards positive outcomes. We only have so much time each day--let's spend it on building our lives!
As Buckminster Fuller says, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete."
I've said all along--if we had a world of people focused on the 6-10, building whole and dynamic Life Puzzles--most of the problems that we are so stuck in and constantly fighting--racism, social injustice, drug and alcohol issues, income disparity etc., would shift because 6-10 proactive people create a world where these issues are addressed and worked through to ensure healthy, whole and dynamic people and communities!
So, Mr. Pitts has called for us to contact him to share "What Works". And I'd like to ask those of you who have used the Life Puzzle model to help you build your life to write Mr. Pitts and share Life Puzzle with him! You can reach him at lpitts@miamiherald.com or go to his website, www.leonardpittsjr.com and click on What Works. This is a proactive step you can take and together we can find solutions for building a great world.
