Recently I have had a breakthrough regarding, what seemed to be a minor thing, but in reality a very important matter. What I am referring to is the power of questions that we are asking ourselves regularly.
I have learned about the power of questions, that we are asking ourselves on a daily basis, when I went to Tony Robbins‘ event. After implementing a few minor changes, there has been a tremendous shift and growth in my life. And I would like to share it with you as it works like magic! 🙂
We ask ourselves questions in our head the moment we wake up and all throughout the day, whether it’s conscious or unconscious. These questions shape our life because we send a message to our brain presupposing an outcome based on the question we have asked.
So, oftentimes we are asking ourselves questions, without even realizing it, that are destructive and harmful in nature.
Did it ever happen to you? You spill coffee on yourself in the morning on your way to work and ask, what seems to be a very innocent question: “Why does it always happen to me?”. Then you get stuck in traffic and ask yourself the same question again. Then you come to work irritated and drained out of energy, even though it’s just a morning. One thing happens after another, and at the end of the day you are saying that this was the worst day ever. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has experienced it. 🙂
What you have done in the example above was setting expectations on how your day will go. By asking yourself this lousy question, you have set a tone for your entire day. What you need to do is to stay away from these kind of lousy presupposed questions.
Whatever question you ask yourself, if you ask it with the absolute expectation that you will get an answer and if you ask it consistently – your brain will answer it, even if there is no ground for this. So when you are asking: “why does this crap always happen to me?!”; your brain finds the response for you, such as: “because you are unlucky”, “it’s your fate”, “your work sucks”, etc.; even though there is absolutely no grounds for those responses.
The good news is it can be easily changed. You must learn to ask yourself the right questions that empower you.
What you need to do is to raid your daily vocabulary, the words that you are using and the questions you ask yourself. If in the same situation above you will ask yourself: “What is funny about this situation? What can I learn from this? What is great in my life right now?”; you will drastically shift your state of mind from negative to positive.
I have created a big change in my life after I have chosen my power questions. And these questions above that I listed as an example are my most powerful questions that I use daily. Because things that can upset us happen regularly:). It’s about us, whether we will let them upset us or not. As Tony Robbins say: “What’s wrong is always available, but so is what’s right!”
Please see below some examples of power questions, but I encourage you to choose the power questions that resonate with you, that speak to you:
- How come I’m so happy?
- How come I am so lucky?
- What can I learn from this situation?
- How can I use it?
- What do I respect about this person?
- What’s actually funny about this that I haven’t noticed?
- What is great in my life right now?
- What am I grateful for?
And try to stay away from the “Why” questions, as they almost never benefit you.
Another destructive question that I was using regularly was a “What If” question. What I didn’t realize before was that I was not doing myself a favor by asking this question. And the reason being is that oftentimes, when there is something we have been avoiding and staying away from in our life, something that really would benefit us in the long run, we are asking ourselves a “what if” question; and we are finding a thousand reasons for why we should not be taking a certain action that we were staying away from. Therefore, justifying our fears and inaction.
When we ask ourselves “what if” question, we are presupposing all the bad things as an outcome, all the things that could go wrong. And then we can, in all good conscience, justify our stagnation.
I am not saying that we shouldn’t look ahead and see the big picture. As well as I am not saying that we shouldn’t be proactive. All I am saying is that we should not look for reasons of why something should not be done, finding excuses for inaction and justifying our behavior.
Additionally, try to use as many ‘happy words’ as possible in your daily vocabulary as it impacts your life tremendously. Examples of ‘happy words’ are:
- Excellent
- Outstanding
- Amazing
- Awesome
- Terrific
- Magnificent
But I encourage you to find the words that you can relate to, that speak to you.
I strongly suggest for you to take some time and raid your daily vocabulary for the words and statements that you are commonly using and for the questions that you ask yourself. Get rid of all damaging and harmful words and substitute them with ‘happy words’ and ‘power questions’. And I can promise you that you will be pleasantly surprised about your emotional shift and much improved quality of your life.
Always remember that You are in charge! You can make your life amazing and be happy and fulfilled, as this is the ultimate purpose of our lives!
P.S. I welcome and encourage your opinion, so leave me a comment below or contact me via email: [email protected]. If you haven’t yet, remember to subscribe your email below to get notified when new articles have been posted.
