Questions

Our minds are amazing things. From the moment we are born (probably even before that), it seeks to understand the world around it. It seeks to answer questions.

We've all experienced a time that, when the lights are low, we see something that gives us a start, and the question that immediately is sent to our brains is, "What's that?" Not in words, but in feelings. It all happens so fast that we don't have time to put it into words.

And an amazing thing happens. Our brain gives us an answer - not always the right answer - but an answer, nonetheless. I noticed this as a universal human condition when, as a teenager, I saw the movie, On Golden Pond with Kathrine Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

In it, Norman and Ethel Thayer (Fonda and Hepburn) are surprised by a visit from their daughter, Chelsea (played by Jane Fonda - Henry Fonda's daughter) and her boyfriend, Billy Ray, and his son, Billy. That first night, Ethel and Chelsea decide to go skinny dipping in the lake and invite Billy Ray to come along. Billy Ray, a Los Angeles dentist slowly makes his way to the lake. He never arrives because he keeps stopping, fearfully peering into the darkness, trying to make sense of the dark shadows and shapes all around him. At one point, Ethel, wrapped in a robe and toweling her hair dry comes along the path and Billy Ray stops her and asks, pointing in the darkness, "Is... is that a bear?" Ethel laughs and says, "No. That would be a bush."

You see, Billy Ray's mind, trying to make sense of the world around it had reached the conclusion that the bush must be a bear. And here is the important part - Billy Ray's fear was the same for a bush as it would have been for a bear. It was the same!

So how important are the questions that we ask ourselves? Probably the most important questions that we will ever ask. If you ask yourself, "Why can't I do this?" your brain will go to work to find an answer, and it will find one - even if it is the wrong answer! You can reach conclusions that limit you and rob you of any chance of success, simply because you asked yourself the wrong question. 


What would have happened if you would have asked the question, "How can I make this work?" or "What do I need to do to get this right?" Your brain would devote its time and energy to answering those questions. Even if it takes a lifetime. You see, the other thing about the brain is that it never forgets a question that you pose to it. 


The questions we pose might lose out in priority to other needs and questions, but it is never forgotten. An example of this is when you are trying to remember someone's name and it just escapes you. You rack your brain for the answer to the question, "What is his name?" Finally the moment is passed and you no longer need the person's name, and what happens? Yep. The question is answered, and you remember the person's name.


So the next thing we must explore is how does the brain prioritize the questions posed to it? The answer is two-fold. Questions fueled by emotion take priority. The greater the emotion, the greater the priority. The other method of prioritizing is repetition. When you repeat the same question to your brain over and over, it gains greater and greater priority for your brain. When you repeat the same question with emotion, you have truly unlocked phenomenal power.

Always pay attention to the questions you ask yourself - before they are even formed in words, and ask those questions that will lift you and inspire you rather than depress and confuse you. Don't ask from a position of fear but ask from a position of confidence that, given enough time, your brain will find the answer - even if it takes years, you will get the answers you need to solve any problem.