It's a tale many commuters are familiar with: while waiting for your ride, be it a jeepney, an FX/Crosswind, or the fifth MRT train since you've reached the platform, you reach for your earphones so you can enjoy some music on the way, and what greets you is a tangled mess of wires.
I've always been irritated by this, but in the middle of my frustration untangling my earphones this morning, I realize that it is actually a welcome experience.
Earphones practically have a different way of being tangled each time, and to me, this represents a unique problem-solving situation. It's a nice little brain exercise, a warm-up for bigger tasks ahead (when going to school or to the office) or a nice little cool-down as one heads home to rest.
When you think about it, how you approach this seemingly trivial and immensely simple task is a scaled-down version of how you approach life. There's no need to be frustrated or irritated; the best way to solve the problem is to face it head on and figure out the fastest or the most creative or the most efficient solution.
“It’s all about you, using your own mind, without any method or schema, to restore order from chaos,” said Dr. Marcel Danesi, a University of Toronto anthropology professor who authored a book about puzzles. “And once you have, you can sit back and say, ‘Hey, the rest of my life may be a disaster, but at least I have a solution.’”[1]
So, the next time you end up with a befuddling tangle of wires when all you wanted was a good set of earphones ready to be plugged into your music player or mobile phone, don't get frustrated. Do with it as you will with any other puzzle or even a serious problem in life: embrace it, savor it, and ultimately, solve it. After that, it's all about enjoying the music.
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1. "Tracking the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving" Retreived 2012-06-27.
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