Ask Better Questions

I spent some time preparing for the podcast and then the 20 minutes that I spent with you are the highlight of my week . My intention here is your mental and emotional well-being , and you guys reciprocate that with your time and attention .

This podcast is being downloaded in countries and never thought I would be able to reach , like Gabon , west Africa , cyprus , mauritania , brunei , bulgaria , finland , ireland . Alhamdulillah , all I do is continue to renew my intention , put my effort in and use my skills to give you the weekly topics . I try to keep this podcast timeless and relevant .

The cultural and the time references I make will , of course , change , but the message behind each episode does not change , because these are universal principles , something to draw from , no matter where you are in your life and what culture you live in and what time you're in .

I listen to all the podcasts I publish all the time because I need reminders on all of the goodness that is in these episodes . The brain is really good at filing information in the background , so not every piece of information that you need is always available . That's why I come to these reminders .

Even though I create these podcasts , I keep coming back until I've created a habitual change . Also , consider leaving a review so that other people can find this message . You can leave a message on any podcast platform of your choice that you listen to , and if you have to listen to an episode again and again or listen to it in different situations , do that .

Take notes , answer questions by writing them down , and don't hesitate to go deeper into this study . Whatever your mode of learning is , honour it . Make space to create changes in your habits , which is more than just information gathering . Not such incredible topic happens to be the subject of today's podcast , and that is the art of asking powerful questions .

We grow up believing , based on popular conditioning , that the quality of our lives depends on the external conditions , when , in reality , the quality of our life only depends on the quality of the questions we ask about these conditions . Life's worth is much more profound than the superficial reality of circumstances that the brain presents .

Standard of living is dependent on the questions we ask about these circumstances because the questions we ask , no matter how rhetorical they sound , are still targets for the brain to reach . Just , the brain is a meaning assigning machine . Even a question , when asked rhetorically , the brain gets to work in answering it , even if it is at the subconscious level .

And , like I always say , all thoughts , subconscious or not , lead to emotions , actions and results . It's just that they remain outside of our awareness . These thoughts are still creating results . We just happen to be calling them facts , something that's uncontrollable , just because they're not in our conscious mind .

Some examples of bad questions are why does this always happen to me ? Why am I always so frustrated ? What is it about me that magnetizes problems ? Is there something fundamentally wrong with me ? The answer you get for asking these questions isn't something good , because the way they are asked , there is an inherent negative assumption .

So the answer that your subconscious mind generates to these questions is also negative . For example , why does this always happen to me ? Because I'm broken ? Why am I so frustrated ? Because I'm inherently pre-programmed like this . What is it about me that magnetizes problems ? Because I attract chaos . Is there something fundamentally wrong with me ?

Yes , the answer is yes . The more painful the answer , the farther out of awareness it will be , but it will be present . Mind can only work with references , so if you refer it to a seemingly unanswerable question , it is still answering it . It's just suppressing the answer because of the pain it creates on an emotional level .

And don't be fooled for a second that you're always just kidding with these questions . You don't really believe them . The fact that you're asking them is reason enough for your mind to generate an answer for you , and the effect of the answer gets stored as a body memory , as a habitual emotion .

There are a ton of examples of poor quality questions that you might be asking . Why does this problem always find me ? Why are people so challenging ? Why are we living in such difficult times ? Why does the same issue keep coming up for me ?

The brain quietly answers all of these questions in the background and it tells you all of this is happening because the world is a horrible place and you limit your actions from this subconscious belief of world being a horrible place . The world is neutral . The world is what you make it to be . The world is always 50-50 .

If you ask why people in the world so challenging , and the answer is something along the lines of because the world is a horrible place .

No matter how unaware you remain of this answer , this thought will induce feelings of morbidity , isolation , fear , dread , and you will find yourself paralyzed , unable to move forward , unable to create any good outcomes , all the while believing that the world is a horrible place , factually , like it is a circumstance when it is only a thought on repeat .

Other examples of bad questions are like why are people so rude ? When is he going to learn to respect me ? Poor quality questions about things , people , circumstances in the world only generate judgment . They don't offer any actual solution . Maybe the world is a horrible place , but it is also a nice place , peaceful , filled with goodness and love .

Unless you ask questions about that , you will only see the negative 50% . The basic skill to up-level the quality of the questions that you're asking is the Cartesian question method . This is when you turn the original question on its head . The Cartesian questions go something like this what will happen if I do this ? What will happen if I don't do this ?

What won't happen if I do this ? What won't happen if I don't do this ? Cartesian questions are used to help with decision making , but I use them to come out of the trap that my brain sometimes creates when it gets stuck in the loop of asking poor quality questions . So if your recurrent question is why am I always so frustrated ?

The Cartesian questions will sound something like this what will happen if I do get frustrated ? What will happen if I don't get frustrated ? What won't happen if I do get frustrated ? And the last one , which is a brain twister because it's a double negative what won't happen if I don't get frustrated ?

Answering this last question is really eye-opening because you really have to clarify to yourself the answer and it makes your brain jump through hoops to find the answer . It's hard to heal from things that you don't talk about , and poor quality questions keep those things hidden , while good quality questions bring them to surface .

So Cartesian questions are one way to create different instructions for your brain , a way for your brain to start asking different questions . Other extremely powerful method to up-level your questions is to simply be aware of the low quality question .

As soon as you become aware , you can just interrupt yourself mentally from asking that question , and that shift in thinking comes with a profound , positive shift in emotions . Spend more time in metacognition . Spend more time in thinking about your thinking rather than doing the thinking .

This is what gives you a better chance of becoming aware of yourself and when you're asking an unfruitful question , so that you can stop the train of thought before the brain has a chance to generate an answer for you and before the body starts to feel the heavy emotion related to that answer .

This awareness simply interrupts old patterns of thoughts and is super powerful . So one way to upgrade your question asking skills is to turn them around on their head using the technique like the Cartesian questions . Other technique is to spend more and more time thinking about what questions you're asking yourself .

And the third , my favorite technique is what energy or emotion are you coming to the question with ? There is this energy of why is the world so challenging , which comes with the pre-assumed answer of because world is a horrible place . And then there is this energy of why is the world so challenging ?

There is no pre-assumption , just curiosity about the answer Coming to the question that your brain is presenting to you , but changing the emotions related to it . Hmm , why is the world challenging ? Is it so I can grow stronger ? Is it because my challenges make me a unique person ? Or is it because each challenge leaves me slightly stronger than before .

This is how powerful emotions are . This is why the mind and body is an inherent pair . You can see how . You didn't even change the language . Why is the world so challenging Versus ? Why is the world so challenging ?

Changing your approach to the same question and it will be more rewarding to you than asking the question that is already loaded with negative , pre-supposed answers . If you're going to ask a question , ask for the sake of it to be answered . Ask with open emotions of curiosity , awe , wonderment , fascination , inspiration , marvel , intrigue , amazement .

Changing the emotion behind the question is my favorite technique , because this is the most profound level of change you can create for yourself .

If you practice asking questions like this , it will then carry over a body memory of open emotions and next time your mind goes to ask a low quality question , your body will remind your brain to ask it to be answered , to ask it from a positive energy , not so that you can , low key , continue to feel bad about yourself .

And when you find yourself asking a question from any of the above positive , open , abundant emotions and you don't have an answer , feel free to create more questions as an answer , just to remember that answer to such difficult questions isn't always immediately available to the brain , but you do have immediate access to more high quality questions , and that will sound

something like this Original question why am I always so frustrated ? Original question asked from open emotions of curiosity and creativity why am I always so frustrated ? And opening up to more higher quality questions like what's causing these repeated patterns of frustration ? What can I do to help my frustration ? Who am I going to be without this frustration ?

How am I adding or taking away from the solution to this problem ? Do I have options other than feeling frustration ? And then there are questions like what is wrong with me when there is where there is no actual good outcome ?

If you don't find the answer , then you're frustrated , and if you do find the answer , then you prove to yourself exactly what's wrong with you . Either way , there's no good outcome . So the moral of the story is don't ask bad questions . My favorite favorite questions are something along the lines of how did I act in this situation ?

Do I need to change anything about myself to improve it ? And then questions that I ask in my leadership positions what can I do to address this confusion ? What change can be implemented to prevent this misunderstanding in the future . How can I inspire more people towards a positive change ?

What can I do to make it easier for people to believe in their higher values ? And then there's a question I asked , the answer to which is the creation of this podcast , which is how can I help people understand how powerful questions are ? Trust me , when I sat down to create this podcast , I had no idea what I was going to do . My brain totally offered .

What makes you think that you can inspire people ? Such a paralyzing question . Lower brain is with you every moment of your life , just like it is with me . Shaytan's waswas are with all of us every moment to supplicate our progress .

But you also have a much powerful force with you , and that is your higher brain , the power of your innate wisdom that is created by Allah , that is always available to you .

Ask better questions and better quality answers will come to you , even if you're not aware of them . The way the right brain functions is that it answers questions in a piecemeal fashion At another time that seems completely unrelated to when the question was actually asked .

You might find an answer on a billboard while you're on the highway , you might find it when you're in the shower or when you're relaxing , or when you're in a social situation having a conversation , so , from a loving , gentle place , become more aware of what quality questions you're asking and advance yourself to asking better quality questions .

You do that when you're spending more time thinking about your thinking rather than mindlessly doing the questioning , or you do that by elevating the emotional energy behind these questions and just coming to each question with curiosity , without attachment to an answer .

Inshaallah , with the elevation of the quality of the questions you ask , the quality of your life will also elevate With that . I pray to Allah swt . O Allah the most merciful , the most gracious , we come to you with open hearts , seeking your divine guidance . Please guide us away from destructive questions and guide us towards growth .

Give us the wisdom to ask the best questions that will lead to our character refinement rather than pulling us into despair and stagnation .

O Allah , as we are reminded of the whispers of the shaitan and the lower brain that aim to paralyze us , protect us from these forces and make us more and more aware of you alone , the ultimate power that you hold , the power that you have given us as an inherent wisdom , and increase it in a way that lets us live beyond the intelligence of the brain .

O Allah , let us become aware of our high quality answers to the high quality questions and make that a reason to raise us in our ranks in this world and the next InshaAllah , please keep me in your doors . I will talk to you guys next time .