“Being in the question gets you to be in creation. Questions are a source of creation. When you do anything from creation you start creating a different possibility. Which is what we’re looking to do. When you go into question, the purpose is not to get an answer, the purpose is to perceive and have more awareness.” Gary Douglas, Quote from What IF?
I read the above and connected immediately. Ever since I started Consciousness Coaching I have been asked questions about what I think is true, how I perceive the world and of course, what I actually want. Funnily enough it is the first time in almost three decades that anyone has ever asked me questions and I will be forever grateful to my coach Savannah Steinberg and Michelle Hinds for getting me hooked on them.
If you do not live in a self-questioning mind frame questions can be uncomfortable things. They expect you to provide an answer, rather than be given an answer from someone who knows better (which is what our upbringings teach us, that answers come from better people than you and I ). They expect you to know who you are, rather than have other people tell you. Even harder, they demand that you wake up and take control of your life, leaving few openings for blaming others for what you are feeling and experiencing. Hardly a comfortable space for most people however, the only way to become empowered is to take ownership of your life and that means embracing questions.
The most powerful question I ever asked myself when diving was why not ? Why could I not be the deepest ? No-one ever was able to give me a proper answer to that one so I started to ask another, How ? If I stopped thinking about how it should be and all the things I thought I needed and just focused on using what I had right now, how would I do it ?
These days my focus is on changing from suffering to experiencing my life with joy and calm, so my questions are different – yet the same. How ? Every time I find myself in a situation that is want I really want, I try and find the question that will unlock it for me.
What am I thinking about my life and who I am that is limiting me ? What is right about this situation that I am hating and resisting ? What is it trying to show me ? What is it trying to get me to let go of ? What do I want to create, how do I want this to turn out ? And because most of the time you do nt control the outcome and I am committed to not wasting time and energy on things I can’t control, how do I want to feel for this ? Then it is one more step to letting go of how I am thinking about where I am (which is causing my stress and suffering in the first place) and shifting into actions that will create what I want. Simplistic, but really, that is all there is to it.
How often do you ask yourself questions ? When last did you take a question like “How do I want to feel ?” and allow it to be present for you for an extended period of time, watching to see how your answer starts to change as you start to peel back the layers of thoughts that were never yours and step into your power.
The purpose of a question is awareness. The purpose of choice is awareness. The purpose of possibility is awareness.” Gary Douglas, Quote from What IF?