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Oh, man. I'm about to invoke Anthony Robbins. This ain't gonna be pretty, but here goes...
“Questions set off a processional effect that has an impact beyond our imagination. Questioning our limitations is what tears down the walls in life. I believe all human progress is preceded by new questions.”
I believe that life is as difficult, or simple, as we make it. I believe each of us has the intellect to climb out of bad situations, survive under tumultuous circumstances, and thrive as boldly as we desire.
I also believe that Socrates’ gift to pupil Plato was more than an historic education: the Socratic Method of asking questions unlocked the mysteries of life itself. Though risking hyperbole in that statement, I believe that humans are logical, and that by asking questions about our environment and circumstances – like Socrates to Athens – our minds pull back the shroud of doubt, ignorance, and frustration to reveal awareness about our individual realities.
In other words, if we keep asking “how, what and why,” eventually we will come to the answer we seek.
While training for a marathon, one might ask, “How in the hell am I going to run 10 miles?” A better question to ask is, “I must pass 10 miles to get to 26.2 miles. What do I need to do to run 10 miles?”
Answer: You need to condition your body.
Question: How must I condition my body?
Answer: Run 4 miles four times a week, eat a fortified diet, and run one long run once a week until your mileage equals 10 miles or more.
Question: When will I find time to do that? My work schedule won’t allow.
Answer: Because finishing a marathon is so important to you, you must find 45 minutes each day, and two hours on the weekend. You must run early in the morning or after work.
Question: It is too dark in the morning and night. I don’t want to risk injury.
Answer: Run on a tread mill.
… and it goes. Remember that questions help probe deeper until you reach your answer. Many people assess a situation and determine immediately without much thought that it is impossible. If you’re stuck in a bad situation, ask “How can I make it better?” And ask with the attitude and conviction that nothing is impossible.
Since you are trying to advance your mind and body forward, frame your questions positively so you reach for your answer in the direction of your goal. Ask questions that empower your spirit and motivate you to reach higher.
Don’t dwell on unhelpful, pitiful, demoralizing questions like,
Why Me?
Why does this always happen to me?
Why are you blaming
me?
Oh, why
Lord?
What’s the
use?
Why
bother?
To make a positive difference in your journey toward personal greatness, ask empowering questions like,
How can I make this better?
How can I make my position stronger?
What do I need to do smarter?
Anthony Robbins’ Problem Solving Questions
- What is great about
this problem?
- What is not perfect
yet?
- What am I willing to
do to make it the way I want it?
- What am I willing to
no longer do in order to make it the way I want it?
- How can I enjoy the process while I do what is necessary to make it the way I want it?
Ask and Ye Shall
Receive
As a Christian whose life was transformed way back in what I call my Epiphany (Hey! It just occurred to me that that’s actually a religious event, so I guess the term is apropos), I ask questions when I pray like, “God, will you please teach me what I need to know or do to succeed?” “Will you open my eyes, mind and heart so that I may know what you want me to know?”
I don’t ask, “God, please will you give me this,” or “God please deliver me from Y.” I ask for his help to acquire the tools, skills and knowledge I need to earn my way to what I want.
Look, I am not
evangelical, but I am grounded in the Spirit. I am not preaching to you, but
allow me to elaborate further on meaningful prayer. In 2000 author Bruce
Wilkinson published a wildly popular booked called The Prayer of Jabez,
the story, explanation, and application of the petition to God by an obscure
Israelite, Jabez, hidden amongst the Old Testament begats in 1 Chronicles
4:10.
Without context, narrative or exposition, Jabez is merely mentioned among his long list of ancestry as being a good fella notable for his unique prayer, which pleads,
“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.”
When the book was published, it was received by many Christians – though not all – as a sort of genie lamp incantation that when said would make the petitioner’s wishes come true, which I do not believe was the author’s intent.
On the contrary, I think the author, and Jabez himself, meant that if the Lord granted him a wide sphere of influence – be it property, wealth, recognition – he would command great influence among his people and better serve as an example of a pious Hebrew, thereby encouraging other Hebrews to follow his lead. Jabez was not seeking – if I may liberally infer that which I didn’t write – wealth and status for the sake of wealth and status.
Jabez’s prayer was not a series of questions, per se, like I am promoting. It is, however, a petition, and what is a petition if it is not a request for change? In other words, it is a question. The Jabez prayer seeks empowerment for the sake of serving a greater purpose. In the quest for your goal, questions, too, can be empowering psychological tools to direct you, empower you, toward a greater purpose. Avoid superficial, useless questions like, “Why did that jackass get a promotion and not me,” and turn your attention toward empowering, Jabez-like petitions like, “What can I do to be better and earn that promotion?”
Prayer is my daily routine of questions and self-examination
- Praise – expression
of worship and awe in the Lord. Reminding myself of his
powers.
- Thankfulness –
Thanking him for the goodness – and problems in life.
- Forgiveness –
Recognizing my faults. Asking for forgiveness and requesting strength, power,
and wisdom to overcome.
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