Ask Powerful Questions
One of the most valuable tools I have learned from life coaching is to ask myself and my clients powerful questions. The brain is constantly looking for answers and evidence to support your questions, thoughts & beliefs. Unfortunately most humans don’t have awareness around any of these. It’s not our fault. We are not taught this at home or in school.
Instead of simply reacting to life’s circumstances without considering our thoughts and feelings about them, we can ask ourselves questions every day and set out to find the answers. We are giving our brain directions all the time- often without realizing it. We don’t even realize when we are thinking disempowering thoughts that we are directing our brain. That is why it is so important to ask ourselves valuable questions that will result in our brain working on questions that serve us.
By asking high quality, empowering questions, we get creative and inspiring answers. -Brooke Castillo
Brooke Castillo, the founder of The Life Coach School, says it best.
"Two of the most important tools we use at the School involve asking questions and having goals. Those are the two best ways I know to direct your brain. I got an idea from Deepak Chopra that is really fascinating to me. He suggests that our imagination can be used for either anxiety or creativity. We’re either worrying about something which creates anxiety for ourselves, or we’re creating something. I love that concept. If you direct your mind in a way that’s thinking about creation, thinking about a goal or a future you want to have, you’re using your imagination. You’re putting your brain to work to do what you want it to do.
If you ask yourself why you can’t lose weight, you will come back with a slew, a very negative self-defeating answer. You have incorporated a negative belief into the question and your brain will be sent to task to prove the negative belief correct.”
Examples of empowering questions to ask yourself: Pick one to ask yourself every day.
How can I make today better than yesterday?
What do I love about myself?
What am I grateful for?
What can I do to laugh a lot today?
When you tell yourself, “I don’t know” and “I’m confused”, or “I can’t make a decision”, you’re blocking yourself from your own wisdom. Open up your mind. Know that even if it’s something you don’t know the exact answer to right now, saying “I don’t know” will block that answer from coming.
Instead, say “I’m learning”, “I’m figuring it out”