Today’s post is going to be short and sweet. Instead of giving you a big, thorough explanation of how to shift one particular belief or set of beliefs, I’m going to share with you another simple yet powerful other technique for drastically changing your perspective. And, as we all know, when you change your perspective, you change what you focus on. When you change what you focus on, you change your vibration. And when you change your vibration, you change your life. This is how you become a happy shiny puppy. Ready? Of course you are. That’s why I adore you.

It’s all about asking questions

Here’s the thing: You’re always asking questions, whether you know it or not. Most thoughts that enter your mind are a direct response to some question you asked. One could even argue that all manifestations you receive are answers to questions, with the desire for something being the query, and the physical representation of it being the answer. Questions are powerful, and they ALWAYS elicit a response. So, one way of looking at the process of deliberately receiving your reality is to say: If you’re not getting what you want, ask better questions.

Fearful questions

Most of the questions you’re asking are entirely subconscious. They match a thought pattern that’s been practiced so consistently and for so long, it’s become automatic. For example, most people, when faced with creating a vision of their dream future, will immediately begin to ask some variation of “what if it doesn’t work out?” Once the question is asked, your mind immediately begins the process of answering it. If the question is a practiced one, it will find the answer quickly. Feelings of dread, doubt, uncertainty, insecurity, anxiety, etc. are the result.

Other examples of fearful questions are:

• What if I never find love?
• What if I get rejected?
• What if I can’t find a job?
• What if other people have the power to keep me from getting what I want?
• What if life is getting worse?
• What if I fail?
• What if he doesn’t call me?
• What if I bomb the performance?
• What if no one buys my product/service/book/etc.?
• What if they don’t like me?
• What if I die alone?
• What if everything I think other people are thinking about me is true?
• What if I get so famous that the paparazzi start stalking me and they take horribly unflattering pictures of me and plaster them all over the tabloids, and the billionaire boyfriend who was crazy about me decides that’s just too much drama for him and dumps me, causing me to sink into a deep depression where all I do is sit on my dirty, sweat stained couch, while sobbing into my donuts and watching hour after hour of the deceptively and possibly ironically named Learning Channel?

God Gawd, I feel like I need a shower after simply having written that list. Ick.

The problem is that each time you ask one of these questions, you will get an answer that matches it. Ask a icky question, get an icky answer. So, when you ask “What if I fail?”, your brain assumes that failing is totally an option, and begins to filter all the information you have access to, to show you not only what will happen if you fail, but all the evidence you’ll need to solidify your belief that this is the possible, probable and really, most likely outcome. You’ll hear of others who tried and failed. You’ll meet people who will go to great lengths to tell you why you shouldn’t even try. The books you read, the news headlines you see and the conversations you have all make it clear that your dream is doomed. DOOMED, I tell you!

Continue to focus on these thoughts, and more and more “evidence” that supports them will show up. You’ll get all the negative, awful feeling manifestations you can handle. And it all started with a stupid question.

Ask better questions

If asking a fearful question gets you unwanted results, then what would happen if you asked a hopeful question, one that presumes success instead of failure?

“What if I succeed?” will cause your mind to gallop into a totally different direction than “What if I fail?” Now, if you’re not used to asking success oriented questions, it may take your mind a little while to adjust. It may feel a bit lost at first, which can be a tad uncomfortable. The frequencies of a fear filled question and a positively focused question are completely different. You’re basically going from full speed reverse and slamming into 5^th gear. Give yourself a chance to make the transition or your motor will stall (this would be the proverbial freak out, where all you want to do is run away).

If you can get past the initial discomfort and keep asking the positive question “What if I succeed?”, your mind will find the answers that match it.  It has to. Your mind will presume that success is not only possible, but after just a little bit of continued focus, probable and really, the most likely outcome. Ask a question that presumes that you’ll get what you want and your mind will simply accept it. This is often a much easier tactic than simply contradicting a limiting belief.

Questions vs. Affirmations

When you come up with affirmations, you’re usually going to simply contradict some kind of belief you have which no longer serves you. If you believe that you aren’t worthy, you may begin to feed your mind with “I am worthy”. The problem is that if your affirmation is too far removed from your current thought, you’re going to get little relief. This would represent a quantum leap, and those rarely work out.

By asking “what if I am worthy?” or “what would it feel like to be worthy?” or “what if I was worthy all along?”, you’re not just trying to get your mind to accept a new belief, you’re asking it to assume this hypothesis is possible and to go searching for evidence that it’s true. Instead of bombarding it with information it doesn’t currently agree with, you’re involving it in the process. Your mind likes that. Now you’re working WITH the mind instead of against it. And that’s always going to be more fun and effective.

More positive questions

So, let’s turn the questions from above around, shall we?

• What if love is about to find me?
• What if he/she says yes?
• What if I find my dream job?
• What if other people have no power to keep me from getting what I want? What if I’m more powerful than I’ve ever thought?
• What if life is getting better and better?
• What if I succeed?
• What if he calls me? Or what if an even better guy calls me?
• What if I rock the performance?
• What if tons of people buy my product/service/book/etc., and love it?
• What if they adore me?
• What if I live a long and joy filled life, full of friends and family and community?
• What if all the compliments I get are actually true?
• What if I get so famous that the paparazzi start stalking me and they take somewhat unflattering pictures of me and plaster them all over the tabloids, sparking a discussion on what actual beauty really is, and causing people to come to different conclusions than the media have been trying to lead us to, while my billionaire/artist/philanthropist boyfriend adores me more than ever and through some miracle of coincidences the Learning Channel changes its programming and actually lives up to its name again? Oh, and something about puppies and shit…

When you give your mind the task of answering these questions, you’ll get completely different answers. And if you continue to focus on these thoughts, more and more “evidence” that supports them will show up. You’ll get all the positive, inspiring, awesome, joy filled, passionate, amazing feeling manifestations you can handle. And it all started with a stupid question. Ha.

What questions are you asking? What answers are you getting? Share in the comments!