What’s Your Investment in Questions and Answers

I’ve been thinking about questions and answers.

We ask questions because we need an answer or because we’re curious. And seldom do we ask anything without being invested in what the answer is going to be.

And as soon as you’ve invested in one direction or another, everything takes on a new urgency. Suddenly, you need things to fall on one side or another. And instead of things being balanced, one side is weighted down with need, expectation, and desire. So, things are skewed and off-kilter. And I wonder if that’s the best place to make decisions from.

There’s a bias there that might make it tougher to reach the best decision for you.

A little experiment in getting some answers

Think about it this way. If you balance on both feet evenly, you can go in either direction pretty easily. In fact, if you’re willing to try a little experiment, stand up. Distribute between your right and your left foot. Stand up nice and tall and find that equilibrium.

Once you found it and you’re standing balanced between both feet, see how quickly you can move to your left. See if you can get an awareness of what it takes for your body to move from being completely balanced to heading over to the left side of the room. And then try the same thing from balanced to moving to the right side of the room. Feel what happens to your body and see how much work you have to do to get yourself moving.

Try it again but this time get all your weight over to your right foot. Don’t stand on one foot. Rather, put most of the weight over the right foot and let the left foot sit on the floor for balance. I know the first time I tried this, I almost fell over. So, keeping your foot down so you don’t fall over is a good idea.

When most of your weight on your right foot, try and move to the left side of the room. See how easy or hard it is relative to moving from balance. And this time, try and move over to your right when your weight is all the way over to the right side. Is it easier or harder? Notice what you have to do in order to move.

Do the same thing bounced on your left foot. Note the relative ease or difficulty. I’m betting you’re going to find that it’s easiest to move from a balanced state. That’s because you can go in either direction pretty easily. But, if you’re all the way over on one side or another (invested in one path or another), it’ll be harder to get going.

Build awareness of what your body is doing. It can be your teacher and your guide on how to walk your best path literally and figuratively. Your body knows and gives you clues as to what’s best for you every minute of every day. The more you listen the better able you’ll be to live your very best life.

I’d love to hear from you about your experience with this little experiment. So how did each of these feel? Drop me a line and let me know. And next time, I’ll show you how to use this technique to help make better decisions.