The Power of Questions

The human brain is a powerful, incredibly effective apparatus that allows us to imagine, create, remember, analyze, dream, breathe, move, and regulate literally thousands of bodily functions and biochemical processes all at the same time. It is also an extraordinary problem solver. Feed it a mix of facts, suppositions and best guesses and it will invariably and inexorably deliver to you an abundance of solutions of varying value.

The adage, ‘garbage in, garbage out,’ usually applied to computer programming, is an apt account of how our brains operate. What we can expect to receive as answers is exactly proportional to the quality of the stuff that we enter into our heads. A huge amount of the self-talk that we engage in everyday is the questions that we ask ourselves. These questions that we pose are powerful molders of meaning for us. They are queries that can send us into spirals of helplessness and inaction, or propel us to heights of confidence and accomplishment.

When you ask your brain a question, it immediately goes into action to try to come up with an answer that makes sense. The answer doesn’t have to benefit you; it just has to make sense. For instance, when you ask, “Why can’t I lose weight?” What comes to you are things like, “because it’s too hard.” or, "I'm just meant to be fat." That's because the question presupposes that you can't lose weight. So the brain does it's best to give you a rationale to fit your assumption. What if you consistently fed your brain a diet of positive questions, that assumes the most beneficial outcomes for you? The brain would then become a mighty ally, sifting through all of your accumulated information, extrapolating courses of action from your current situation. You would even start to notice potentially helpful things throughout your day, things to which you would have otherwise paid no attention. That question, let loose in your brain, would start working even when you are not consciously considering what you asked.

The trick then is to acquire the habit of re-framing your questions to ones that assume and point you in the direction of your success. So, when dealing with the battle of the bulge, you might ask yourself, “How can I most quickly and easily loose 25 pounds?” or, “What do I have to do differently to stick to this new diet?” Begin to consistently think in terms of what you want, instead of dwelling on the idea of not having it. For many of us, contemplating our misery has become a well-established practice.

Mindfulness is the key. Start to be aware of how often you complain about a situation or person. Notice when you feel hopeless and defeated, and let that be your cue to ask a more empowering question. Begin to think of your mind as a supercomputer that can find the remedy to even your toughest challenges. Expect it to surprise and delight you with solutions you may never have dreamed of. By holding as your intention, the commitment to always look for the most positive outcomes, you can let the quality of your questions guide you to becoming your own best advocate and adviser.

What amazing improvements might you start to see in your life by asking yourself better questions?

The Death of Struggle

Welcome to the premier posting on my new blog MIND MASTERY. As a life-long learner, I have consistently sought to find insight into and control over my motivations, talents and challenges. That quest has led me often to wonder why we think, talk and act the way we do. That's the impetus behind the name MIND MASTERY, the belief that with greater understanding of ourselves, we can Master our thoughts, speech and actions.

When it comes to the language we use daily, I strive to eliminate from my vocabulary words that embody struggle, aggression and violence. We often say things like, 'I have to fight to achieve this or that,' or 'I’m struggling to overcome one thing or another.' In the use of these words we conjure the image of forces clashing, and battles ensuing. This is something we are used to because of how in our society we view relationships as oppositional, people as contestants in a zero sum game. There is a saying that says, what you seek is also seeking you. What we sometimes fail to see is that what we struggle against struggles against us as well.

When we set up the dynamic in our mind that we have to fight something, we at the same time empower that same something to fight back. We create the very situations that we intend to overcome. We hear a lot about the “War on Poverty” or the “War on Drugs” or the “War on Terrorism.” When we speak of these things, we are telling ourselves that something is going to be struggling against what we say we want. Words have power. Thoughts become things. If we go to war against a nation, a person, our own selves, or even ideas and concepts, they each in their own way and their own right seek to defend its existence and will fight us back. That is not to say that we simply do nothing about the things that we wish to change in our lives. It is empowering and natural to seek change and to affect it.

Often times something has to die for us to get the change we want. We have to kill something in our lives or in ourselves so that the new thing can be born. But this is not a contradiction. Death is a natural and inevitable part of life. People, ideas and ways of being die all the time. We don’t have to hate the idea, or fight the idea for it to die in our minds and hearts. We can simply approach the idea with love, courage, and wisdom. We can learn from it what it has come to teach us, and then decide to release it to the Universe. There is no fighting or struggle or aggression in that process, but, to be sure, there is the death of what no longer serves us.

Struggle and adversity has its place. It will rear its head in our lives whether we speak it up or not. Words have power. We must use them carefully and with wisdom. Not that we should be afraid that we may slip up and use some negative phrasing. But rather we should be mindful and hold as our intention, to express love, peace and joy in all our words and actions. Life is challenging and adventurous enough without our summoning forces to fight us.

Peace