Question Everything

Posted on November 13, 2007
Filed Under Embrace Your Highest Path and Purpose, Releasing Limiting Beliefs, Spiritual Development |

“It’s almost impossible to find a job this time of year.”

“I probably shouldn’t be doing this on my vacation.”

“That’s never going to work for me.”

“There’s no other way out of this situation.”

These are all comments various people made to me over the past few days. I recognize these kinds of comments. We all make them, all the time. They are the “truths” we tell ourselves that shape our reality. They are the constructs that our mind comes up with for its own various reasons. It wants to rationalize why our life isn’t all that great. It wants to explain to us why we should just keep doing what we’re doing. It wants to convince us that we’re justified in our behavior.

The mind is just doing its job. It has to create a constuct or frame of reference within which we can operate. We can call this a belief system, we can call it thought patterns and habits, we can even call it “the way I was raised.” Our minds are constantly coming up with various constructs and structures that allow us to function within our world. Sometimes those constructs are very beneficial and empowering. Sometimes they are limiting and based in fear. Sometimes the construct that starts out as the former becomes the latter as our life changes. Nothing that the mind comes up with is “good” or “bad” in itself. It’s just a construct. It’s only a frame of reference. It allows us to create our reality. It’s nothing to get attached to. It’s not who we are. It’s a tool.

But of course, we do get attached. We want to be right. We want to have the answer, the Truth. We hold on firmly to the various constructs of our mind and refuse to let them go. We invariably create a reality that conforms to the construct we’re holding on to.

How do we begin to detach from these constructs? How can we begin to pick and choose a frame of reference that would serve the reality we actually wish to create, rather than creating a reality according to the frame of reference we are currently operating in?

Here’s a little exercise. Whenever you hear yourself - or others - making these pronouncements about life in general, such as “It’s tough to find clients in this business,” or “Education is everything,” or “The most important thing you can do for your kids is to have dinner with them every night,” respond with one very small question: “Really?” Okay, maybe not always out loud. But at least in your inner dialog. Begin to question everything. We’re not labeling thoughts or beliefs as right or wrong. All we are doing is making some room for other possibilities. We are creating a little bit of space between us and the constructs of our mind.

At first the notion of questioning everything might seem a little scary. Don’t we need something to hold on to? But we find that, when we begin to question what we hold as “true,” life doesn’t fall apart on us after all. We realize that questioning our own frame of reference in no way threatens us. We can detach, become less insistent that we have the “right” way of looking at things. It’s kind of a relief, actually. And as we detach, we also recognize that we have a choice. We can choose the frame of reference through which we view the world. We can choose the construct that creates our reality.

First, question everything.

Blessings,
Andrea

My thanks to Anmol Mehta for including this article in the Meditation, Yoga and Spiritual Growth Carnival. Visit his site for more great articles.

Comments

5 Responses to “Question Everything”

Tuck, The Rebel Belle on November 13th, 2007 3:25 pm

Wow..a woman after my own heart. I live in the question!! Thanks for your blog post. It’s amazing how much I can “know” and yet, I still find myself holding onto old thought patterms. Today is one of those days where I needed the reminder….you’re rockin’ my world!
Patricia - Spiritual Journey Of A Lightworker on November 13th, 2007 3:50 pm

Andrea, I am in a place where I question everything that I hear myself think or say since I choose to work with Conscious Language. I even rewrote what I just said to choose a better way of saying what I intend to create for myself. Great article.
Lawrence Cheok | A Long Long Road on November 14th, 2007 12:36 am

Hi Andrea,

My friend once asked me if I see a glass with water filled halfway as half-full or half-empty.

Like what you said, questioning our frame of reference should not threaten us. We do create our own reality. Whether you see the glass as half-full or half-empty, it is the reality as we see it; but it’s the same glass.

If that’s the case, might as well see it as half-full and be happy, right?
Andrea on November 14th, 2007 12:02 pm

Tuck - I love the concept of “living in the question.” I always think it’s very liberating to be content in the question, without trying to come up with an answer.

Patricia - Hmmm, conscious language. I’ve been reading a lot about whether language is really the important thing, or if it’s more about the energy and intent behind the language, since we all have our own interpretations. I think, though, that the words we choose are so very important. I don’t always do the best job of it, but it’s a work in progress … better in writing than in speaking I think. There’s something about committing words to a page that brings in the mindfulness. As a writer yourself, I’m sure you have your own experiences with that!

Lawrence - absolutely! Although I think we can even try to move beyond the positive or negative thinking to: “There’s a certain amount of water in this glass. Oh, look, today my mind is calling it half-full.” And that way we don’t attach to the mindset itself.

Thank you, all, for awesome comments!
Blessings,
Andrea
jon noah,artist on November 14th, 2007 5:32 pm

Andrea,

Something I woke up with this day to write about and was thinking in my spirit about was something similar to what you said. In fact,I sent it to a friend earlier that was working on a Newsletter and then this evening I finally got to check my email and read what you wrote…..on “Questioning Everything”.

WOW!!! …it was one of those neat confirmations that exist between us all, if we just question the right way and listen sometimes to what our intuition will tell us.

My thoughts were on…..”do you have those days…..that you question things”

…..the thoughts within you, your spirit is turning and you are wanting to do something but can’t quit put your hand on it…

…well it must be in the air, is something said by many……But is it really. I think it goes deeper with that intuition that is inside of us all.

I said, for the past couple of days for me….I have been inside writing and thinking…and pondering many thoughts…actually haven’t left my home since I came back from my sons house….Sunday.

So do you have those kind of days…that your intuition is telling you something. I know that you do. Why do some have it and others don’t act upon it…when we all have the same ability to do so.

….in fact I think I will write about it next month…for the Newsletter…and as I wrote that, I had to laugh with a little chuckle inside.

I know from the past that something is taking place in my spirit…it is like an unrest within me…unsettling….
…….do you have those kind of days…that you do question…everything…..

I know you are special and together, we can all do something…in making changes.

So for the past three days, is it that….. Can we not do more for our neighbors,friends and then volenteer our time to help others.

I have been thinking of you, and others. And very glad I met you and enjoy your mailings and words.

So,along with that and several other people of what you have been talking about…that the words we say are so important…..

…I feel we can and will do something to help so many others and I see some of our talents and business merging to create something even bigger….

….do you have those kind of days…that you feel and think allot and just know something is taking place…and questioning the thoughts you are having.

We have to look at things in a postive way and say,nothing bad is happening, I know that..but it is this unrest feeling…do you know what I mean…

..Ok…I know this…for one day we have a date to go down that highway and take that trip and let our hair down and see the world…in new eyes.

Aren’t friends great!!!!

Just had to write you…I know you are busy…drop me a note when you can…

Peace and Much Joy,Love My Friend and Kindred Spirit in Making this a Better Place…A Better World..a Better Person

…so in closing…do you have those kind of days…that you question everything…and know that something is taking place.

just me, enjoying always your words and a new subscriber at this end,

jon noah,artist
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