Questions are power. An empowering question could change the way you learn, create, and take control of your life. On the other hand, questions can also give someone else power over you. Empowerment depends on asking yourself or others the right questions.
12 Examples of Empowering Questions
Different questions can have a great impact on your subconscious mind and help you to better achieve your goal.
Successful people ask better questions and get better answers as a result.
Tony Robbins
Good questions are actually simple, but the answer often isn’t, so… If you don’t get an answer that gives you a sense of empowerment, maybe you need to ask a better question so you can get an empowering answer.
1. What Do I Have in My Hands?
This empowering question is about focusing on the things you can change, not the ones that are out of your reach. It helps you let go of things that aren’t good for you while encouraging you to take responsibility for your actions.
Sometimes you catch yourself spending more time thinking about a problem than finding a solution. These empowering questions will help you reframe your thinking and feelings so that you’re no longer preoccupied with the problem but instead direct your energy toward possible solutions.
2. Am I Living My Purpose?
If you don’t know, you can certainly feel it somehow. Some people call it a calling as if a higher power is directing them to act in a certain area. Others call it an instinct or an intuition. Whatever you call it, your purpose has the greatest impact on the lives and well-being of others – and on yourself.
Your purpose is most meaningful when it aligns with who you’re at your core. It comes from your true self, or the part of you that’s connected to your soul. When you live according to this part of yourself, life seems more meaningful and fulfilling than ever before because you feel that everything happens for a reason and somehow has a purpose.
3. “What If” Today Was the Best Day of Your Life?
It may sound like a silly question, but having a positive mindset can greatly change your outlook on things and empower you to make better decisions.
I say “what if” and not “when” because it’s something you can apply right now. Whether you’re doing well in your life or going through a rough patch, you should ask yourself this question regularly because it can put things in perspective and help you see them differently.
4. What Would You Do?
For example, could it be seeing success in a project you’ve been working on and feeling like you’re finally reaching your goal, or spending a day at a mindfulness or meditation center to find some happiness and get rid of the negativity around you or your own negative thoughts?
Or maybe it’s just another wonderful day that you’re already experiencing in your everyday life. The point of this question is that you also think about the possibility of achieving your goals instead of staying stuck in a limiting belief.
5. Who Would You Spend Time With?
In our daily lives, we have the power of choice and learning is a freedom we’ve, just like with who we spend our free time.
If you spend your time with a person who has a lot of negative thoughts, and you never learn anything from, ask yourself if that person can really help you with your empowerment goal.
If not, you may end up spending a lot of time asking yourself the wrong questions, and it’s time to find people who have a positive mindset, or at least with whom you can have a better conversation.
6. What Kind of Experiences Would You Have?
Experiences generate emotions, and emotions are important for your creativity.
When you have a lot of creativity, you feel empowerment and prosperity, which can help you make better decisions, because when we’re in a positive state, we automatically make better decisions.
7. How Will You Feel at the End of the Day?
Setting your daily life up for success is a positive thing to do every day, it means giving yourself the opportunity and belief that your day will end well.
For example, if you have a bad day at work, don’t sink into negativity and ask yourself the right questions:
- Would meditation help me?
- Should I accept the invitation of that nice person I met at my friend’s house the other day
- Should I go see that movie I’ve been wanting to see?
8. If Not Now, When?
A powerful question falls into two categories: Questions that help you move toward what you want (toward), and questions that help you move away from what you don’t want (away).
“What if I started now?” is an example of the first question.
This question is great because it gets to the heart of what procrastination really is: fear. When we put things off, it’s often because we fear they won’t go well. While that may be true sometimes, most of the time our fears are unfounded and still keep us from taking action and achieving our goals. The good news is that there’s always the option to start over. If something isn’t working, you can stop doing it and try something else instead!
9. How Can I Serve? Who Can I Help?
Helping others may not always make you feel strong, but serving can make you strong in its own way. While I understand that you don’t feel like a superhero when you put your own needs aside to comfort others, one could argue that there’s strength in serving.
Through our service, we learn that we’re not alone and that there are others with similar needs and challenges. Most importantly, we learn to treat others as we’d like to be treated.
10. What’s Good About This Problem?
In asking this question, you’ll look for the positives or good things about your problem. You’ll then turn them into strengths.
This encouraging question can help you learn lessons, find motivation and opportunities in your situation. It can also remind you that everything happens for a reason.
Remind yourself that every challenge is an opportunity in disguise and change is inevitable. For example, if your feel emotional, it’s important to recognize the good side of this problem (e.g., enhanced creativity, seeing what others don’t see)…
11. What Can I Learn From This Situation?
This is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself when something goes wrong.
We spend so much time and effort correcting situations after they happen, instead of realizing that it’s actually a golden lesson that we can learn from and take a step forward in figuring out how to do things differently next time.
The right question can change your life and take you to a new place. It can open you up to new possibilities and change your thinking.
12. What Can I Do to Make Someone Feel Special Today?
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget to show others that we care. When was the last time you told a loved one how special they were to you? How important their opinion of you is to you? What can I do to make someone feel special today?
By doing this, you aren’t only expressing your desire to make the other person feel special, but you’re also building a connection with them.
More importantly, you’re sending the message that your efforts, no matter how small, can have a big impact on another person’s life. We should all try to make others feel special every day. We may not be able to fulfill all their wishes and desires (I can’t pay enough money), but we can certainly put a smile on their face.
Here Are Some Tips on How You Can Make Someone Feel Special
- Ask yourself, “What can I do to make someone feel special today?”
- Send a friend a nice postcard or letter.
- Call an old friend you haven’t heard from in a while and tell her how much she means to you.
- Email someone who’s inspired you and say thank you.
- Tell your partner or spouse three things you appreciate about him or her.
- Give someone a sincere, genuine compliment. Be specific. “You’ve great hair” is nice, but “I like the way your hair looks now – the strands and color really match your skin tone.” That’s really nice!
Where Am I Negative and How Can I Change My Thinking?
This question asks you to examine your thinking at the moment and find a way to change it. What’s the negative thing you’re thinking about right now? For example, “I don’t think I’ll ever get a job in my field” or “No one cares about me.”
Now ask yourself, “Is there any evidence that this statement is true?” If there’s nothing to support your negative thinking, then your mind created that thought out of thin air. If you can’t find any evidence to support your statement, then your brain made up this story for no good reason. Why would a sophisticated part of your brain do such a thing?
Because these kinds of thoughts give us something we need. They’re often an attempt to make sense out of chaos- a way for our brain to explain why bad things happen, why we feel the way we do, and similar attempts to bring order to disorder. But sometimes these explanations aren’t true – they’re just stories our minds make up to make us feel better (or worse).
Questions Are a Powerful Tool We Can Use to Shape Our Lives, and We’re More Powerful Than We Think
We ask ourselves hundreds of questions every day. And these questions help us shape our lives in powerful ways.
When we tell ourselves disempowering stories about ourselves, our goals, and our dreams, these thoughts become our reality. They can feel like a heavy blanket that crushes us and makes it almost impossible to move forward with the things we really want in life.
But when we tell ourselves encouraging stories about who we’re and what’s possible for us, that blanket becomes a source of fuel that gets us moving again! We experience more clarity and enthusiasm for what we want out of life (remember, we’re more powerful than we think)!
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