The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. Most of those questions are subconscious. If you start to pay attention, you may find that many are negative. That’s what I found when I started listening to myself. In this episode, we explore the anatomy of a good question.
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On This Episode
Rhythm of Life – Don’t Believe Everything You Think
Random Riffs – Let Them Eat Cake
Feature Segment – The Quality of Your Life Is Determined By the Quality of Your Questions
Rhythm of Life – Don’t Believe Everything You Think
In recent episodes, I’ve been paying attention to connecting my head, heart, and body. And trying different techniques to foster this connection. I decided to write everything that came into my head for 30 minutes.
What happened? Let’s just say I agree with Andy Andrews – “You can’t believe everything you think.”
It’s amazing what my mind thought of. And I saw that I needed to put what I thought to the test.
Pay attention to your thoughts too. Maybe even try the same exercise I did.
Just remember – you can’t believe everything you think.
Random Riffs – What on Earth is May Day?
When I was a kid, we celebrated May Day. You’d collect flowers from woods and yard, bunch them together, hang them on someone’s door, knock or ring the bell, and run away and hide before they came.
I wondered where the May Day celebrations came from, so Googled it. Here are links for some of the information.
If you’ve lost sight of this holiday, you might want to resurrect it. It’s fun. Innocent. Generous. And there’s cake.
Feature Segment – The Quality of Your Life Is Determined By the Quality of Your Questions
You get to the office and get a cup of coffee. While you’re walking back to desk, someone bumps into you. Coffee is everywhere. You ask, “Why does this always happen to me?” Your mind answers by finding evidence to prove that statement’s true. You asked. It delivers. Every time.
The thing is, it’s not true. It doesn’t always happen to you. It hasn’t happened in 6 months or a year – or more. But your brain searched through memory bank to connect any time something spilled on your clothes to answer the question.
The problem isn’t the answers. The problem is the questions.
Andy Andrews says – the quality of your answers will always be determined by the quality of your questions. Tony Robbins says the quality of life is determined by the quality of your questions.
Better questions – better answers. Better life.
How is it possible that intelligent, creative people can ask questions that aren’t in our own best interest? According to an article in Psychology Today written by Dr. Relly Nadler, our brain asks 50,000 questions/day. It’s mostly an unconscious process and intended to keep you safe. Many of these questions are negative, and keep us feeling that way.
I began paying attention to questions my own brain was asking. It turned out many weren’t so great. So I studied from the best to find out how to ask better questions. The results are in this episode.
Tony Robbins talked about Bill Gates asking a brilliant question when he was starting a software company. Andy Andrews lists some great questions in a blog post.
The anatomy of a great question:
- No instant answers
- Use specific, clear, precise language.
- Focus on the desired result – a big why.
Think of a situation where you’ve been stuck for a while. Change your question to make it clear, precise, and specific. And make it about WHY.
This takes practice. Don’t give up. The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. What do you want to do to make it great? And fun? Add a comment.
Hi Kathleen! Thank you for raising this important subject that it is so easy to overlook. So often we don’t realise (or at least for me!) how much negative self-talk goes on in our heads . Deliberately changing the questions I ask myself is something I am definitely going to consciously focus on. It is so powerful as a personal development and growth tool. This will help me find my groove and make my life sing!
So much negative talk, and so many negative questions…all designed to try and keep us “safe”. Amazing, isn’t it? Is there one particular question you’re going to adopt?