When the correct answer does not seem to solve the problem.

Try later, or under different conditions, or from another angle, trying to get part of it to work at least some of the time. Learn more about the problem and about oneself in doing so.

- Vigs

Stop, stay awhile, to enjoy the special moments that keep passing by ...

... the concert in the park, the changing colors, viewing a happy smile on someone, the joy of working on or accomplishing something difficult. Stretch the moment. Often it is easier to hurry on to the next. Savor it. Feel the moment flood ones being.

- Vigs

Need or novelty

What is needed first, then the novelty. Unless it's novelty that is needed. Reversing the order may feel good, usually for a time.

- Vigs

What makes a day successful?

Can it be unsuccessful in the eyes of others and still bring one great joy. And can it be successful to others, but feel hollow. Certainly. Define it as making progress towards ones higher priorities, the big ones. Even if incrementally. It might take time. A lot of time. Achieving big things often does.

- Vigs

Be a part of something special.

... whether it be something large that needs many hands and minds; or something that needs working away in solitude. That some day more things that matter will be possible by our efforts.

- Vigs

Proverbs can and can't capture the reality of the moment.

Contradictions abound. Black and white; love and indifference; all at once, around and within us. While precision or repeatability may be a desirable requirement for equipment, we aren't quite made the same way now, are we? Predictable yes, but probably no more than that. What or how we think or feel or do or react may change over time. The words from a song or a proverb that rang true once may be replaced by just their opposite. Making us more human, a puzzle and a contradiction. Not so much to be solved, as to be experienced. The opposites indicate the range of our experiences, its depths and heights.

- Vigs

Take the conversation to a different place.

A warmer, funnier one.

- Vigs

Truth is more than mere fact.

Facts firmly establish the truth regarding events which have occurred. However they do not always reveal the truth behind the facts, such as the details regarding the human elements which are often in play, the reasons, the emotions, the role of chance or of the past. Without denying the facts, one must judiciously choose to reveal as much truth as possible about the facts, without inadvertently painting oneself into a corner.

- Vigs

Listen for the sound of the ocean in the singer's voice.

Or whatever it is that takes one to a place of happiness, harmony and contentment within.

- Vigs

Create opportunities for others to shine.

Clear paths, remove obstructions, clarify ideas, begin and continue building bridges over terrain impassable for me, that others may someday complete the journey.

- Vigs

Keep some part of ones life less than perfectly organized.

Some place and some time where it's okay to paint outside the lines.

- Vigs

There are important things that need to be done.

... and when done, it won't matter which person or group did it, just that it was done. We call on the ideas of great minds of ages past to guide us, the heartwarming children's stories, and the gadgets that make everyday that much easier; often without knowing the author. And even if we did, the idea might just be more important than the individual. It lives.

- Vigs

When things that matter begin to fall apart and it seems easy to give in to worrying ...

... instead choose to work on other things. Items that once accomplished would have moved something else forward at least by a bit. Something which is important to us too. In the meantime, the time spent working on something else would have also given time for turning things over subconsciously in ones mind. Alternate paths often emerge.

- Vigs

Use the words that move us.

Words which help build and give expression to the depth of our experiences. Rephrase the retort and the manner that will wound. Find words that heal and move us towards a happier place.

- Vigs

A working solution is often better than a stalled situation.

Taking on difficult problems. Uncertainty abounds. With strong emotions involved on all sides. Action is needed but none which offer a free and clear path. Find some way, question and simplify assumptions, develop a pragmatic solution even if it is not the most efficient one. It will do for the moment. To know if the course of important actions is consistent with ones reasoning and beliefs, test it repeatedly, in a variety of situations, not just the current one, and see how the results turn out. Expect results which in turn tests what we think, feel and believe.

- Vigs

Staying busy in itself may not be a good measure of a day well spent.

On the other hand staying busy doing for the most part what takes us in the direction of our plans and dreams, will help us stay in control, despite inevitable detours. Experience the worry dissolve away which is about half of the way there, even when the journey may just be beginning. Choosing activities which form part of a larger plan, so even when we cannot quite see what's on the horizon, we can direct our paths to places on distant shores only our imagination shows us.

- Vigs

Putting off what's tedious and difficult to do is unlikely to make it go away

Doing something, anything reasonable, about it would be a good start though. Reading what others have done in similar situations, thinking and planning about how to solve the problem, involving others is likely to be helpful. If nothing else, it would have been just another way which does not work as intended. In some distant future, part of what didn't work now could mesh with something else that did, and provide the solution that we have been seeking.

- Vigs

Chip away at the right place.

Something really big and important can seldom be completed in one pass. Being big and all, the task often contains interlinked parts, some of which are more important than others. Even amongst the important parts, some more accessible than others. Begin and continue working at the places which will have a positive and increasing impact on the overall project - the parts that are crucial to the whole. It can be dressed up later once the core is in place.

- Vigs

The losing battle that must be fought within ...

... so that some day reaching an abiding peace, an inspiring place, the land of promise within and without will be possible.

- Vigs

Time puts many things to the test - especially ideals.

It takes the ideas and efforts of many to test the importance of what we each value. Seek the opinions of both those who agree and those who disagree. The fans and the naysayers. Seek the underlying principles that guides each, to understand and learn about oneself. While our philosophical differences may be strong, proceed in good faith, assuming the intentions of those who differ from ours, are as good as we hope ours are. Time will tell. Again maybe.

- Vigs

Where would one go if every place feels about the same.

What can never be taken away.
Whom can one turn to always.
When is it time to draw the line.
How playfulness can replace cynicism.

- Vigs

While waiting for inspiration to work out the big questions ...

... do the things that one would feel happy to have done over the year, especially at the start of the next new year. The present will soon be the past. To feel happy about the past work on making the present better.

- Vigs