The Power of the Open End

Since my post about not interacting with my problems anymore I've had lots of opportunities to walk my talk, naturally. It's one thing to say "I refuse to acknowledge you bad breath/credit card bill/ cranky spouse anymore!" and dig your head in the sand with a "nah nah nah, I can't HEAR you!" but that's really not useful.

What I am talking about is a shifting of consciousness. It's the act of observing so called "problem" and then finding a new way to interact with it. The open ended question is the best way I have encountered yet. Better than breathing deeply and counting to 10, better than a hot fudge sundae, and more instantaneous and permanent than a yoga class. Just the simple question "How could I observe this differently?" Or "What do I notice about this that is changing?" can be all I need to disentangle from my pre-existing mental tape and move just a smidgen away. That tiny space, coupled with a question that elicits possibilities instead of the same fixed reaction is all that is needed to begin to shift the situation.

Open ended questions are incredibly powerful, because they allow a new answer to flow into the space that they create. Nature abhors a vaccuum, and I guarantee if you choose to try it, you'll be amazed at the answers that come your way!

Try these on for size:

What would happen if I I saw this as an opportunity?
If I were to notice that my life was changing in a positive manner, what would I notice?
How would my life change if I choose to deeply accept and love myself?
If I stopped using cigarettes/food/alchohol/shopping to fill in my holes, what would I do?
What would feeling free look like for me?
What would happen if instead of strangling my boss/smelly cubicle mate/15 year old I decided to view them as a precious and innocent baby? Or naked? (Whichever works best for you! ha,ha.)
How can I use my talents and stengths to move through this situation?

And so forth. How will you know it's working? Because you will feel better. Even a slight improvement (because let's not be naive, everyone experiences some heavy duty stuff in their life) can begin to change the situation because YOU change. And if you keep at it, noticing what is new and changing all the time, before you know it, it has changed!