“Sometimes questions are more important than answers.”
– Nancy Willard
I’m sure that many of you have heard the saying, “sometimes the questions are more important than the answers,” as have I; Before I realized the extent to how true and impactful this message actually was.
I have found that asking myself questions is the easiest way to become aware of unconscious patterns.
I also made the connection that the wording I used when posing the question played a major role in what I was able to uncover within myself.
For example: Whenever I feel feelings such as fear or anxiety arising within me, I simply ask myself the question, “What am I so afraid of?“ Whenever I ask myself this question, all feelings of fear and anxiety dissipate within me.
Another example is when I catch myself having a difficult time being genuine or authentic with my words, or simply not sure which direction I want to go in. Whenever I feel this way, I pose to myself the question, “What are my true intentions?” Whenever I ask myself this question, a sense of clarity comes over me, and I am able to honestly work towards and communicate my goals and expectations.
So often we spend our time unconsciously avoiding or ignoring thoughts or emotions that we don’t like, instead of confronting them with the presence of awareness.
One way to confront these thoughts or emotions with the presence of awareness is by asking ourselves questions. Once we address this cause of suffering by asking ourselves the right questions, we create an internal shift allowing inner peace to take over.
These are just a couple of examples that I use often within my own life, but the power of questions don’t just apply when asking questions to myself, but sending a question out to the universe as well. I have found to be true that whenever I send a question out into the universe, even if the answer may not be direct, I always receive an answer in some form. Although from my own experience, I would say that the simplest and most effective way to use the power of questions to benefit one’s life is by posing them to themselves.
When posing a question to oneself, I have found that the most effective way to do so was by asking it internally, in the form of thought.
Although it is true that we are not our thoughts, as Eckhart Tolle and many others influential teachers express, our mind can still be used as a tool for good.
One does not have to verbalize the question that they are posing to themselves out loud in order for it to have a positive impact, asking the question in the form of internal thought is just as effective, if not more.
The possibilities for the questions that can be posed are endless, whether it be from something as vague as “What do I want?” to something as specific as “What am I feeling?“. At the end of the day, pose whatever question calls to you! We are all on our own individual journeys and thus are looking for our own individual answers that relate to our own individual experiences, so we will all have very different questions to ask, and that is the beauty of it.
I hope this helps. All my love and namaste.
United Being 