Is Your Life Focused on the Question, “What if?”

What if…? Have you ever asked yourself that question?

I bet you have, but you probably did so about an event or situation you didn’t want to occur. For example:

What if we have an earthquake?
What if my spouse leaves me?
What if I end up homeless?
What if I don’t like it?
What if I’m not good enough?
What if I can’t do it?
What if I get rejected?

Those types of what-if questions leave you stuck. But negative what-if questions are the most common ones we ask.

Yes, most of us.

Don’t Live in a Negative Future

Here’s the issue: The more often you say “what if” and follow it with words that describe a negative scenario, the more often you focus your attention on a potential negative future.

And where your focus goes energy flows. Said another way, you create what you focus on.

And I know you don’t want to create a negative future.

But thinking about those negative possibilities draws them to you. Not only that, it creates fear with you.

Why wouldn’t it? After all, you are focused on some scary possibilities.

And that stops you from moving forward. You are afraid of that scary future, so you stay stuck right where you are.

But there is a way to get unstuck.

What if the Future was Positive?

The way to move forward is to ask yourself a different type of “what-if” question. This time, ask yourself ones that help you imagine a positive future. For example:

What if I live somewhere totally safe?
What if my spouse falls more in love with me and wants to renew our vows?
What if I increase my income so I can live in any house I desire?
What if I like it?
What if I’m good enough?
What if I can do it?
What if I get accepted?

Try those questions on for size and notice how you feel. Pay attention to the pictures you create in your mind as you answer them.

Positive “what-if” questions provide possibilities. They give you a way to see a potential future that is one you want.

When you ask yourself What if… and imagine something good, your mind almost naturally goes to the next logical “what-if” scenario.

What if I get that new job? And what if getting that new job allows me to afford a bigger apartment in a better part of town? And what if I love the new job and excel at it? What if that job leads to that position I’ve always wanted and didn’t think I could have? And what if I really could have it…just by getting this new job? And what if the new job that allows me to live in a nicer place helps me meet a different caliber of person…and I find my soulmate?

Now isn’t that better than:

What if I get fired? And what if I then can’t afford my apartment? And what if I then end up homeless? And what if I then have no way to show up for an interview looking or sounding professional? And what if I end up alone, on the street, living in a box?

You do not want your mind to go there! So don’t let it.

Ask yourself positive “what-if” questions and begin imaging the positive future you desire.

What-If Your Way to Positive Action

As you ask positive “what-if” questions, you can lead yourself to action as well. Allow the questions to help you get specific about what you need to do to create your positive future. For instance:

What if I get that new job as an ER nurse? What if I then demonstrate to my boss that I have skills as a surgical nurse? What if I do that by helping with as many pre-surgical patients as possible that come into the ER—or ones who need surgery right in the ER? And what if I then ask if I can be moved to the surgical unit so I can use my skills more fully? And what if I get a job in the surgical unit? What if I then…

I have no experience as a nurse or with hospital-related jobs, but you get the idea.

Allow your “what-if” questions to help you change your focus and mindset. Let them lead you to the necessary, so you can make your positive potential vision of the future real.

What “what-if” questions have you tried successfully?

Photo copyright: Peggy_Marco / Pixabay.com