Most of you have heard the story about the man who visits the doctor and complains that when he sips his morning coffee, his eye hurts.

The doctor orders tests on his eyes to try and determine if there is something wrong with his sight. They also run tests to determine if the type of coffee he is drinking has some type of additive that is causing his pain. Maybe it’s the cream he is putting in his coffee that is having a negative effect on his eyes. Determining that one particular eye is only affected, the medical establishment is in a quandary as to what test should be run to determine the unfavorable effects of coffee on the human eye. Surely the experts can find an answer and help this poor man enjoy his coffee. There must be others who suffer from this unfortunate malady, and the experts are determined to find out.

One morning, the man is drinking his coffee in his hospital bed and keeps saying ouch with every sip, when a nurse observes him and exclaims, “maybe if you take the spoon out of the cup before you drink your coffee — it won’t poke your eye!”

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Yes, the analogy is kind of silly, like you should be able to figure out this kind of thing before involving experts who are expertly trained to treat the symptoms (hurting eye) and might not be inclined to figure out the actual problem (the spoon). Armed with technology, we have all become an expert class when trying to treat symptomatic issues in our own lives without really addressing the problem.

Mental health experts and medical doctors are equipped to meet our needs based on the answers we give to the questions we are asked. If I’m tired all the time but don’t tell my doctor that I’m staying up late and not eating very well, then how would we expect an accurate prognosis? The poor health official might focus on treating symptoms that would be ameliorated with a more responsible sleep schedule and paying attention to eating habits. Occam’s razor works very well in many areas of life.

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Armed with smartphones, people are trying to figure out why things are happening the way they are based on the advice doled out to them by the myriad resources available at the touch of their screen.

Not feeling well? You just have to figure out what the problem is by checking all your symptoms. Once you’ve checked the boxes, you might be diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, separation anxiety, relationship anxiety, abandonment issues, attachment disorder, or any gigantic leap of discomfort from the everyday challenges of growing up or dealing with the world around you all wrapped up in a nice, packaged, well-meaning diagnosis.

Perhaps a look at what we are consuming might offer a better and more immediate remedy for our smartphone-constructed mental health issues like the amount of sugar, carbonated beverages, time on social media, exercise habits, how we treat those around us, or even our sense of place in a world too big to even hope to understand.

There are, indeed, serious mental and physical health conditions that have become more prominent in the past 10-15 years, but doing what is the most obvious thing first might be the method for solving many of our self-diagnosed maladies.

We do know for certain that our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health play a synergistic role in our overall capacity to function. We operate in a world that has changed substantially in the last 15 years and will continue to change dramatically into the future. What anchors do you have in place that have stood the test of time and are reliable methods for constructing a reality that gives you the best hope to operate within? Maybe start with the obvious things and work the problem out from there.

Or, as the analogy goes, just take the spoon out of your coffee before you take a sip.

Lance Scranton is a career educator and has made his home in Moffat County for the past 25 years. He offers his views and opinions as part of the ongoing conversation about our community, country and world. Reach him at lance.scranton@consultant.com.