Have you ever had someone ask you a question to a puzzle you could not figure out on the spot but then suddenly at 2am in the morning you magically came up with the answer while you weren't even thinking about it? Or perhaps you bought a new car or a new dress, one that you had very rarely seen before, only to find that over the next week, you started noticing that same model of car or same dress everywhere you looked? These are a few of the tell tale signs that your brain is hard at work, even when you are not.
How does it work? The brain is constantly taking in a bombardment of information from all of our senses all of the time.
Now, there is only so much that our conscious mind is able to focus on at any one time, so there is a special part of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS) that is responsible for filtering out all of the irrelevant information, and passing the important stuff on to our conscious mind for us to use.
Prior to purchasing the car, similar cars on the road held no meaning for you so the information was filtered out without you being aware of it.
Once you purchased this new car things were a little different.
Suddenly the make and model of your car became significant to you so your RAS began passing on the details of the cars around you to your conscious mind and hence you began to notice them.
So, how do we use our RAS to help us take our lives in the direction that we want to go? This is where the power of questions comes in.
If you ask yourself a question often enough, with the real expectation of finding an answer, suddenly information and opportunities that you never noticed before will suddenly start appearing in your life, almost like magic.
If there is an aspect of your life that you really want to work on, ask yourself 5 laser focused questions regarding that area each morning.
If you want some variety in your day, ask yourself 5 fresh and unexpected questions each morning.
Then, each night, quickly jot down an answer to those questions.
For best results, do it with a friend.
Most importantly, make it fun and enjoy yourself.