ABSTRACT
According to the MRI, problems are formed as the result of the mishandling of ordinary, everyday difficulties in living. In talking about problem origination, Weakland is reputed to have modified Edna St. Vincent Millay’s pessimistic quote: “Life isn’t one damn thing after another. It’s the same damn thing again and again” to “Life is one damn thing after another; problems are the same damned thing over and over again.” So life consists of endless challenges, large and small, that everyone finds a way of handling. When faced with a challenge, we look into the storehouse of problem-solving tools that we have acquired over a lifetime and apply the tool that seems most appropriate for the problem at hand. If our solution doesn’t work, we often try over and over again—harder, longer, or louder—in an effort to get our problem solved. This over-and-over trying leads to a positive feedback loop—a key notion in MRI therapy.
