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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>From: L. Michael Hall<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>2026 Neurons #10<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>March 9, 2026</span></font></b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>Problem Solving Expertise #12</span></font></i><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=5 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-weight:bold'>IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD!</span></font></b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>While it’s easy to take the comment in the title (“It’s all in your head”) as a criticism or an insult, it is actually a recognition of your cognitive powers. That is, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>it’s great that it’s all in your head! </span></i>Why? That’s because, inasmuch as ‘problems’ do not exist ‘out there’ in the physical world but inside your mind as an inadequate way of thinking, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>every true and actual problem is in your head.</span></i> How about that? <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Problems are in your head. </span></i>What’s great about this insight is that <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>if </span></b>it is in your head—then <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>you </span></b>have the power to change it, to update it, to upgrade it, to transform it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>If a problem is all in your head, then Einstein’s comment explains why the first thing to do is to precisely define the problem. Einstein wrote, “The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution.” This explains why solutions typically come quickly and easily once you have a clear, concise, and accurate definition of a problem. No wonder problem formulation is so important. And why a problem well-defined is 50%, and sometimes it is 90% solved. Whatever the percentage is—a well-defined problem enables you to know precisely where to aim a solution.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Next, if a problem is “all in your head,” then it is <i><span style='font-style:italic'>your frame-of-reference </span></i>as your way of thinking which distorts things, mis-applies things, mis-understands, mis-perceives, limits, or in some other way creates the problem. And if the frame is the problem (and not the person), then your ability to develop true expertise in problem-solving rests in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>your ability to detect and break that frame.</span></i> Consider that. “The person is not the problem, the frame is the problem.” And <i><span style='font-style:italic'>frames</span></i> exist in a person’s mind, not ‘out there.’<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>If that’s the secret to problem-solving expertise, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>how skilled are you in recognizing a frame and changing it? </span></i>Can you do it in real time? What’s critical in this process? It is to <i><span style='font-style:italic'>not </span></i>keep thinking the same way about the problem. Whatever you do, try on a new, different, and even a weird way of thinking about it. How you look at a problem is a crucial mental process that shapes <i><span style='font-style:italic'>what </span></i>you think it is and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>how </span></i>you deal with it. The art of <i><span style='font-style:italic'>breaking </span></i>a frame starts with your ability to change your way of thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The idea that the ultimate structure of a problem lies in the frame alerts us that solutions will involve working with the frame. For that, we can reframe, deframe, pre-frame, post-frame, counter-frame, analogously frame, and outframe. These <i><span style='font-style:italic'>framing processes </span></i>[which you can find in the book, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Mind-Lines: Lines for Changing Your Mind</span></i>] inform us about how to address a problematic frame.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>If problems are in the mind, then <i><span style='font-style:italic'>what is ‘out there?</span></i>’ What’s out there is the world of physics and actions. There are natural forces—winds, rain, snow, ice, floods, tornados, typhoons, earthquakes, and on and on. There are also other forces—gravity, electricity, chemicals, elements, etc. There are also animal and human forces—attacks, threats, insults, robbing, stealing, molesting, cheating, lying, defrauding, etc. These are the things we have to deal with. While these are not the actual ‘problem,’ they are or can be problematic to us—and that’s because we want to change these things.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As we <i><span style='font-style:italic'>want </span></i>something different, that <i><span style='font-style:italic'>want </span></i>is what’s in our mind and points to the real problem. If the way we <i><span style='font-style:italic'>interpret </span></i>the external force or action <i><span style='font-style:italic'>blocks</span></i> us and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>interferes </span></i>with what we want to do or experience, then we are literally have created a ‘pro-blem.’ Now we have an actual external <i><span style='font-style:italic'>difficulty.</span></i> The difficulty is that when we want to achieve a goal, our <i><span style='font-style:italic'>attitude </span></i>about what is external is what actually stops us. It seems that the problem is ‘out there’ and in the difficulty, but it is not. The problem lies on our thinking and attitude about what is ‘out there.’<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>All of this enables us to now distinguish <i><span style='font-style:italic'>the external referent of forces and actions </span></i>‘out there’ from the actual <i><span style='font-style:italic'>problem in our mind. </span></i>We now experience a gap between what exists and what we want to change. The gap defines the landscape of the problem—a distance between our current state or experience and the desired state or experience which we want.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The next time someone tells you, “It’s all in your head!” <i><span style='font-style:italic'>thank them! </span></i>Say,<i><span style='font-style:italic'> </span></i>“Thank you for acknowledging that I, as the meaning-maker, am the source and creator of problems because that means I’m also the source and creator of solutions.” Here’s to you having some great problems in your mind and to your creativity in solving those problems!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Neuro-Semantics News: ACMC in Bali --- April 11 – 19.</span></font></b><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font size=3 face=Symbol><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font size=3><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This is for becoming a Professional Coach or a Professional Communicator. If interested, contact Mariani Ng at Mind-Mind … <a href="mailto:Mariani_ng@meta-mind.com">Mariani_ng@meta-mind.com</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><font size=3 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><br clear=all style='page-break-before:always'></span></font><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-weight:bold'><img border=0 width=178 height=267 id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image003.jpg@01DCAF44.177A24F0" alt="Gemini_Generated_Image_7tfamu7tfamu7tfa (2)"><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Executive Director, ISNS<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>738 Beaver Lodge<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><a href="mailto:meta@acsol.net">meta@acsol.net</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Calibri><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p></div></body></html>