Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Simplest Question

Complications. We LOVE them! I'm wrong, you say?
Consider for a moment just how hectic our lives are. Take note of the plethora of emotions we experience on any given day. Did you know that we have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day? Most of that 'thinking' takes place outside our awareness. Your subconscious mind, much like a tape player on an endless loop, is always emitting thought waves. The majority of those thoughts are repetitive.
So, if those thoughts are not beneficial to your existence, they are probably complicating your life. In other words, if you keep thinking what you've been thinking, you'll keep getting what you've been getting.

What many people 'have been getting' usually involves a fair amount of quiet desperation, lack of fulfillment, a sense of going nowhere or going where they don't want to go, and frequent encounters with that pesky question: is this as good as it gets? Sounds bleak, doesn't it?

There is, however, one simple little question that can turn things around for you if your life doesn't quite reflect your innermost desires. The question is "WHAT do I really want?"

On the surface, this question might look like the simplest question to answer. Try this, though: ask your friends and relatives to answer the question "what do you want, what do you really want?", and then sit back and watch them fumble their way to an answer.

Some will ask for clarification like "what do you mean?" Tell them you mean exactly what you just asked them: what is it that they want? You may take pity on them and add a couple of words like "out of life" or "in your life." Then sit back and watch.

Many will tell you exactly what they don't want. Most will not be able to just answer the question directly and self-assuredly. Why?

Plainly, most people just have not asked themselves that question and gotten a satisfactory answer. It's easier for most to tell you what they don't want than to tell you (and themselves) what they really do want.

If you do answer the question to yourself, I suggest you write it down. If the answer is only present in your mind, it's sharing space with all kinds of emotions and memories that may render the answer useless. If you read the answer on a piece of paper everyday, your subconscious will accept the answer, and it will become part of your mental programming.

So now that you know this, what do you want... to do about it? Photobucket