Questions are the Answer to a Happier Life!

By Bill Mayer

I was attending Islip High School on the south shore of Long Island, New York and should have been loving every minute of it. As a fifteen-year-old sophomore in the top one percent of my class academically, I was also captain of the soccer, basketball and tennis teams. Yet feeling insecure and unhappy, I couldn’t seem to appreciate the gifts I had or the potential of a very promising future.

I found myself asking a lot of Why? and What’s it all about? questions. Since then, it’s been a fascinating decades-long personal journey of growth and self-discovery.

Meditation and Enlightenment?

It all started with transcendental meditation, which was becoming popular at that time. In a conservative family, in a conservative town, I had to sneak away from the house at night to have the opportunity to learn more. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, I practiced meditation and longed for an awakening into a new state of consciousness.

What happened was not at all enlightening. My poor mother walked in on me chanting my mantra and assumed the worst. She let out a scream and decided that her son was losing it. Was I out of my mind? As the whispers passed between my mother and father, I realized that I was entering my own brave new world. It takes courage to step into the unknown, to forge your own path, but fueled by my curiosity and need for answers, I remained steadfast in my truth-seeking pursuits. I was just a skinny kid, doing meditation, with piles of books all around me, relentless in my efforts.

“It takes courage to step into the unknown, to forge your own path.”

A Trip Down Under

At 17-years-old I went adventuring to Australia as an open-minded exchange student to see if I could learn more. I hoped to widen my horizons taking a cross-country trip across the Eyre Highway on the vast Nullarbor Plain of Australia, from Adelaide to Perth. Traveling this desert of about two thousand miles by bus, I continued my search and each experience led me to another. I hoped to meet an indigenous shaman and seek advice, but it didn’t happen. No secrets revealed themselves on that trip Down Under.

On Route 66

Almost a decade later, I had a Forest Gump epiphany—maybe if I ran across America I would discover the answer to the what’s it all about question. I took my search to the road, jogging across the United States to raise money for Olympic training centers. My efforts were perceived as heroic because I raised a lot of money for a good cause, but the reality was far less altruistic. The journey of 2992 miles from Miami to Los Angeles through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California was memorable but unproductive in my search for answers. Near the end of my journey, I realized that if wisdom were hiding anywhere along Route 66, I did not find it.

Everything Originates with Thought

Finally, at the age 35, while walking through a new age bookstore in San Diego, California, a book jumped off the shelf at my feet. Reaching down I read the title: As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. Moments before, it had been resting comfortably next to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and I decided that those two books were trying to get my attention. I bought them and took them home to read.

These two books were transformative. But just reading them did not change my life. Rather, it was the fact that I diligently committed myself to applying the foundational principles of these two paperbacks. I soaked in their wisdom: You become what you think about. Your thoughts control your life. Everything originates with thought!

“I was observing remarkable outcomes and experiencing miracles in my life.”

A Change of Course

Through the application of their wisdom, I was observing remarkable outcomes and experiencing miracles in my life. I was so inspired by my results I contemplated writing a book. All at once, I received divine inspiration to let go of my highly successful tennis coaching practice. The very next day, without looking back, I walked off the court. That decision forever changed my life.

Inspired and anxious to share what I’d been learning—I went up to Lake Arrowhead, California and wrote my book in just 21 days. Influenced by Napoleon Hill’s message, the original title of my book was Power Thinking: Control Your Thoughts, Control Your Destiny!

Simple and Yet Profound

However, in the process of completing the book, I had an awakening, a stunning realization that we can control our thoughts by the questions we ask ourselves. My process of understanding this concept began with this awareness: Yes, our thoughts do control our lives. But next, I asked myself a simple question. How can we control our thoughts? Almost magically, the answer filtered through: We control our thoughts by the questions we ask ourselves. To me, it seemed simple and yet profound.

Like others before me, my personal growth breakthroughs are simply a twist of what’s already out there. This concept was no exception. I had recognized a new twist on old concepts. With a flash of awareness that changed everything for me, I’d found both my answer and my niche in the emerging field of new age thought.

Naturally, the title morphed into something new: The Magic of Asking the Right Questions: Create Your Destiny Through Power Thinking. And with that singular effort, I became a professional speaker, seminar leader and private consultant to people from all walks of life.

In my personal pursuit of happiness and enlightenment, I found that all trails lead eventually to one conclusion: 99% of who we are is determined by our thoughts. Our self-esteem, happiness, integrity, character, prosperity, sense of purpose—everything—can be traced to our thoughts. And those thoughts are part of an internal dialogue, a question-and-answer session that never ceases.

The Quality of Your Life

What began as a personal quest to improve my life—became my work and my passion. The truth is the truth, and others discovered it long before me. But the fact is, what you put your attention on is what you attract. Where your focus goes, your energy flows.

To improve my life, I realized I had to learn to control my thoughts. But how do we do that? I’d wondered. Once I realized that thinking is essentially an internal conversation you have with yourself, an on-going series of questions and answers within your mind, the conclusion became clear.

I realized that the quality of my life is determined by the quality of my thinking and the quality of my thinking is determined by the quality of my questions. Then, I understood that I could improve my life by improving the quality of the questions that I asked myself on a daily basis—and so could everyone else.

“Most people unconsciously ask themselves disempowering questions all day long.”

Empowering vs. Disempowering Questions

The questions we ask ourselves should be empowering questions. If we ask disempowering questions, the universe will quite impartially lead us to disempowering circumstances and conditions. If we ask, What’s lacking? What’s missing? or What’s wrong with this? over and over, we’ll attract more of that—more lack, more confusion, more upset, more of what we don’t want.

Unfortunately, most people unconsciously ask themselves disempowering questions all day long, every day of the week. And then they wonder why they’re stuck in a rut. On the other hand, it’s exciting when we consider the positive implications. What could your life be like if you were to master the art of asking yourself empowering, feel-good, high-vibrational questions all day long? How might your personal and business life evolve if you were asking questions that focus in on abundance versus lack, faith versus fear, and what you do want versus what you don’t.

Imagine the powerful changes that can occur if we understand this concept. What I communicate in my seminars is simple but has created life-changing results for thousands of people. If we ask empowering questions that stimulate positive emotions such as happiness, serenity, or creativity, we attract positive circumstances and situations, and we greatly enhance our lives.

How to Create Empowering Questions

A great example of an empowering question might be: What kind of work would I most love to do? But in addition to this, the more specific we are with our questions, the more we can control and direct our thoughts, and then life will move steadily in a more positive direction.

So, an even better empowering question might be: What kind of work would I love to do, that would provide a tremendous service and allow me to earn __________, and that I could have fun doing? The magic in life, it seems, is in asking empowering questions with enough detail to stimulate a swift and powerful answer from the universe.

Remember, you are like a radio tower and with every thought and with every feeling you have in this moment, you are creating your destiny. Peter Drucker, the renowned author and business consultant borrowed from Abraham Lincoln when he said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it!” I humbly suggest that the best way to create it is through the magic of asking the right questions.

How the Universe Responds to Our Questions

An empowering question with plenty of detail will create and attract new, positive experiences and conditions. The universe will respond to our questions, good or bad, enacting the answers unerringly in the play of life. Like a search engine on the Internet, the answer you receive will be a reflection of the questions you’ve asked.

To align with your higher self and co-create with the universe, remember to consistently ask yourself empowering feel-good, high-vibrational questions. Are you open to experiencing self-love, emotional mastery and living a divinely conscious life? Start by declaring to the universe, I take full responsibility for what I think, how I feel, and the results I create in my life.

Then, get started asking empowering questions!

Bill Mayer is the author of The Magic in Asking the Right Questions. He’s a professional speaker, personal consultant, and a success and life coach. Bill measures his success in life by his ability to create and experience moment-to-moment joy. To learn more, Bill can be reached at powerthink@earthlink.net.

Questions are the Answer to a Happier Life!