Articles
Asking life's most important questions
One of the key characteristics of kids is that they ask lots of questions.
And asking those questions is vitally important for them because that's how they learn more about themselves as well as the world in which they live.
Sadly though, most of us stop asking questions as we get older.
That's a pity because by failing to continue to ask the right questions, we miss out big-time on the opportunities to learn 'new things', and most importantly, to grow personally as a result of doing so.
Maybe the reason that you've stopped asking questions is because you simply don’t know what sort of questions to ask!
Or it could be that you didn't like the answers that you were getting to your questions!
In any case, help is readily available thanks to a book with the appropriate title of 'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself'.
The purpose of this book is simple, and that's to 'make life work for you'.
The book's author is Alyss Thomas, a registered psychotherapist and group analyst who works with adults and children in both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom.
Thomas points out that her book 'offers a toolbox of original, practical and elegant concepts and solutions that you can apply to any situation'.
For example, she suggests that you can 'use it to analyse why things went wrong, but best of all you can use it to refine and clarify your personal lifestyle, goals and dreams – and to solve daily problems'.
'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself' adopts a radically different approach to that taken by all other self-help and self-development books now available, regardless of which country that those books originate from.
Thomas explains the difference: 'instead of talking you into having positive, sensible, happy thoughts, the process of asking yourself questions enables you to work things out in a way that is realistic and practical'.
But better than that, says Thomas, 'you don't have to 'think positive thoughts'; instead you are enabled to clear the way to the natural positive thoughts you would have if your levels of stress, your environment and your conditioning did not limit you so much'.
And according to Thomas, there's more good news in that 'you will choose positive thoughts. You will become more positive, energised and healthy, if you feel ready for this'.
The unique manner in which this book is structured and laid out – using a quiz format – makes it both easy to read and to implement the messages that it conveys into your own life.
Thomas emphasizes that the strength of the quiz format is that it has been 'designed to help you bring new awareness to your underlying values, attitudes and emotions. Awareness itself is transformative. You will find the questions continue to work on you long after you have put the book down. Thus, the quizzes have a 'soft' format and do not have routine psychological profile answers. They are designed to help you refresh your mind'.
Here are just some of the different aspects of your life that can potentially 'change for the better' by reading this book:
• It will help you to work out what your true values are, and then show you how to put those values to work for you.
• You will discover strategies that can significantly cut down the amount of stress that you experience.
• You will become more adept at managing your time.
• You will be exposed to insights that will enable you to deal with painful memories and incidents from your past.
• You will learn how to become happy and joyful once more. And to experience levels of creativity that you would never have previously thought possible.
• You will be shown techniques to improve the way that you communicate with others, especially with a partner if you are currently in a close relationship.
One of the major advantages offered by 'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself' is that you don’t have to read it from start to finish before you can start to quickly benefit from its content.
In fact, Thomas recommends that you 'don’t laboriously work through the book from beginning to end. Choose one section that seems interesting and work from there. If you only want to do one section, choose Chapter 2, 'Choose Your Values' – this will have an impact on all areas of your life'.
I followed Thomas's recommendation and read the second chapter of her book.
But by the time I had finished reading that particular chapter, I was hooked. So I went back, read chapter one, and then the rest of the book in its entirety.
I was pleased that I did because 'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself' contains practical advice and wisdom that you can successfully apply to the different stages of life that most of us will pass through, at some stage or other.
Thomas herself best sums it up when she states that 'sometimes it is amazing that we ever get out of bed at all. Why bother? Overcoming yourself is more than half the battle. It can take tremendous work to create the right attitude in yourself so you are ready for the good things to happen. Often it isn’t the problem itself that is the problem, but the attitudes we insist on hanging on to. It will not be possible to read this book without shifting your attitude at least a little!'
So if it comes down to whether or not you should stay in bed, and therefore avoid the world, I strongly recommend that you don't, but that you instead get up, grab a copy of this book and start reading it as quickly as you can.
That's because it possesses the potential to change your life in a variety of positive ways. So don’t make the mistake of passing up this wonderful opportunity.
For more information about 'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself', or to purchase a copy of it online, head on over to the site of the book's publisher, Exisle Publishing. To do so now, click here
Alternatively, you can order a copy of the book through your local bookstore if they don’t already stock one. To do so, quote the book's ISBN number which is 978-0-908988-41-9.
To find out more about Alyss Thomas, the author of 'The 1000 most important questions you will ever ask yourself', and about her professional work, pop on over to her own site. To do so, click here