Picture yourself at a white board. Maybe you are using black only. Or maybe you’re using 5 different colors because 5 are available. Are you thinking instead of writing? Are you drawing from your imagination, writing a memoir, or making a TO-DO list? Your answers may seem unimportant. On the contrary, they capture something about you that you must better understand. Why does it matter? The Real You knows the importance of knowing why.
Asking Why Versus Knowing Why
Asking why is essential to our growth and development. When we ask questions, we learn perspectives other than our own. We can challenge the status quo with why questions. Asking why can even change situations instantly because new opportunities present themselves when you seek to understand the answer. You may have heard the term “compassionate curiosity” used to describe an effort to simply gain understanding without the anxiety of what you might discover.
Regardless of the many benefits of asking why questions, it’s important to notice the difference between ASKING why and KNOWING why.
The Importance of Knowing Why
We’ve been talking about everyday heroes and their Red-Hot Whys. These ‘Whys’ were specific questions they asked themselves at critical times. They came to know the answers. And once they knew the answers, they acquired an intense focus, motivation, and sense of purpose.
Red-Hot Whys aren’t discovered in an instant. The answers start with expressing seemingly trivial preferences. But these preferences (or inner drives) can be followed and reveal a sophisticated inner design with a much more meaningful purpose.
Would you like that kind of answer more often? Start with some compassionately curious questions about the Real You. For example,
- Why do I think about new opportunities based on past success or failure? Shouldn’t I look forward, rather than backward?
- Why can’t everyone just focus on the present moment like I do?
- How is it that no one else sees the potential here? I can see it so clearly.
- Where is it written that you have to find the solution, following the same old thinking? I just don’t agree!
If any of these questions grabbed you, there’s an important reason for that. The Real You knows why.
Discover Why You Think, Feel and Act the Way You Do
The Real You is motivated and driven by forces innate to your inner design. These forces are not acquired habits, learned skills or character traits. These forces course through your veins whether you KNOW it or not. Therein lies the importance of knowing WHY.
I leave you with a couple more why questions and a free tool that will help you discover the answers:
- Why not KNOW what inner forces enable the Real You to find fulfillment and purpose?
- And why not keep going beyond just KNOWING the Real You?
BE THE REAL YOU.