Alternative Health Blog

Spotting small problems in life can lead to huge breakthroughs in health and happiness. The Kaizen technique emphasizes asking small, basic questions and taking doable, small actions. It follows that Kaizen finishes the picture with small, achievable solutions to your daily problems.

Easier said than done. The capability to spot small problems is flat-out hard. It’s human nature to ignore small problems—run through knee pain, ignore discomfort between co-workers, tolerate digestive upset rather than keep a food diary—and then hope the Big Problem never develops. Of course, too often it does.

Kaizen is all about putting your emotional ear to the ground and seeking what’s might be about to derail your status quo. We all know how it feels to think back and realize where we went wrong by not seeing the small problem. Kaizen offers ways to forget the regret, solve the small stuff and avoid the Big Proble

In his book “One Small Step Can Change Your Life,” author and psychologist Robert Maurer provides some tips on how to spot small problems that can change your health and wellness to the positive.

One method is to recall a major mistake you made at some point in your life. Take some time to consider whether there were small steps along the way indicating things were off-track. Did you ignore the problem? Become familiar with that situation and you will learn from the mistake.

Another idea: Identify a small mistake you have made today. Don’t be angry about it. This single act, performed daily, will raise awareness of small mistakes. Next, ask yourself if that small problem of the day might turn into a larger problem. Maurer suggests that misplacing your car keys—sound familiar?—might translate to trying to juggle too many things in your life, which can lead to a bigger mistake. Ask yourself, what is a small step I can take to solve the problem? In this case of the misplaced keys, it might be committing to always leaving the keys in one place.

A final suggestion on solving the small problems before they expand is to be honest about how you might your irritate friends, family and other loved ones. If you identify a point of irritation, you are on your way to avoiding it next time. Do this regularly and your relationship or marriage will prosper. There are few wellness strategies bigger than that. 

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.