The Right Questions

1. Choices Shape Destiny: Every Decision Matters

We are where we are because of the decisions we make everyday.

Cumulative Impact: Our lives are not shaped by single, grand events, but by the accumulation of daily choices. Small decisions, seemingly insignificant in the moment, compound over time to create our reality. This applies to all areas of life, from finances and health to relationships and careers.

Responsibility and Power: Recognizing that our choices shape our destiny empowers us to take responsibility for our lives. We are not victims of circumstance, but active creators of our own experiences. This understanding shifts us from a passive to an active role in our lives.

• Every choice, big or small, alters the direction of our lives.
• The quality of our choices dictates whether we struggle or thrive.
• We have the power to change our lives at any moment by making different choices.

Conscious Awareness: To create the life we desire, we must become aware of the choices we make and their potential consequences. This requires a shift from autopilot to conscious decision-making, where we actively consider the impact of our actions.

2. Conscious Choices vs. Autopilot: Wake Up and Choose

When we are acting on automatic, we fail to see the consequences of our behaviors.

Default vs. Vision Maps: We are guided by either a vision map (a deliberate plan for our future) or a default map (made up of our past). Unconscious choices are driven by our default map, leading to repetitive patterns and undesired outcomes. To break free, we must consciously choose to follow our vision map.

The Trance of Denial: Operating on autopilot is like being in a trance, where we ignore the consequences of our actions and make excuses for self-sabotaging behaviors. This trance keeps us stuck in the past, preventing us from moving toward our dreams.

• Unconscious choices are reactions, not deliberate actions.
• We must wake up from autopilot to see the consequences of our behaviors.
• The Right Questions help us shift from automatic cycles to deliberate steps.

Present Moment Awareness: Conscious choices require us to be present in the here and now, considering the long-term impact of our actions. By asking the Right Questions, we can bypass our emotional states and make choices that align with our goals, regardless of how we feel in the moment.

3. Underlying Commitments: Uncover Your Hidden Drivers

Our underlying commitments are responsible for the discrepancy between what we say we want and what we're actually experiencing.

Hidden Motivations: Our choices are always in alignment with our deepest commitments, even if we are not consciously aware of them. These underlying commitments, formed by unconscious decisions in the past, often conflict with our stated desires, leading to self-sabotage.

Identifying Conflicts: To uncover our underlying commitments, we must examine the discrepancy between what we say we want and what we are actually experiencing. This requires honest self-reflection and a willingness to confront the hidden forces that drive our choices.

• Underlying commitments are our first commitments, overriding other desires.
• They drive our thoughts, beliefs, and choices, shaping our realities.
• Exposing these commitments is crucial for breaking free from self-sabotaging patterns.

Transformation Through Awareness: By bringing our underlying commitments into conscious awareness, we gain the freedom to replace them with new, empowering commitments that align with our highest visions for the future. This process allows us to create a life that is consistent with our deepest desires.

4. Future Vision vs. Past Patterns: Choose Your Direction

You are either moving forward or you are moving backward. There is no middle ground.

Two Paths: Every choice we make leads us in one of two directions: toward an inspiring future or toward a limiting past. Choices that support our dreams fill us with energy and motivation, while choices made from fear keep us stuck in familiar patterns.

Breaking Free from Fear: Fear of the unknown, failure, or rejection often prevents us from stepping outside our comfort zone and pursuing our dreams. To move forward, we must confront our fears and make choices that are aligned with our vision for the future.

• Choices made from fear keep us tied to the past.
• Choices that support our dreams give us a sense of empowerment.
• We must choose to move forward rather than backward.

Inspiration and Empowerment: When we make choices that support our dreams, we feel inspired, hopeful, and confident. This sense of empowerment fuels our journey and gives us the courage to manifest our goals and desires.

5. Long-Term Fulfillment vs. Short-Term Gratification: Prioritize Your Future

Instant gratification ensures that we will travel in the same vicious circles again and again.

The Illusion of Instant Gratification: Choices based on instant gratification often lead to a temporary high followed by regret and a feeling of being further away from our goals. These choices are driven by impulses and cravings, rather than a conscious consideration of our long-term vision.

The Power of Long-Term Vision: To achieve long-term fulfillment, we must prioritize choices that align with our future goals, even if they are not the easiest or most immediately gratifying. This requires discipline, focus, and a willingness to delay gratification.

• Choices based on instant gratification are often an illusion.
• Long-term fulfillment requires us to stay focused on our vision.
• We must be willing to give up something we want for something we want more.

Unmet Needs: Often, our tendency to choose short-term gratification is driven by unmet needs that are seeking attention. By addressing these needs consciously, we can reduce our reliance on impulsive behaviors and make choices that support our long-term well-being.

6. Personal Power vs. Pleasing Others: Stand in Your Truth

Every time you try to please another and forsake your own truth for theirs, you relinquish some of your power.

Authenticity and Integrity: Standing in our power means honoring our own needs, desires, and truth, even if it goes against popular opinion. It requires us to be bold, confident, and willing to take risks outside the comfort of what we know.

The Trap of People-Pleasing: Trying to please others often leads us to give up our own needs and desires, relinquishing our power and disconnecting from our personal integrity. This pattern of behavior can lead to resentment and a feeling of being controlled by others.

• Standing in our power requires us to trust our own instincts.
• We must be willing to give up the need for others' approval.
• Pleasing others is not the same as caring for others.

Claiming Your Voice: To stand in our power, we must be willing to express our truth, even if it disappoints others. This requires us to be comfortable with confrontation and to prioritize our own well-being over the approval of others.

7. Seeking the Good vs. Finding Fault: Shift Your Perspective

When we look for what's right, we invite life to shower us with all its many gifts.

The Power of Perspective: Our perspective shapes our reality. When we look for what's right, we open ourselves to gratitude, joy, and appreciation. Conversely, when we look for what's wrong, we focus on negativity, disappointment, and discontent.

The Habit of Finding Fault: Most of us are trained to scan for what's wrong in any given situation, focusing on the negative qualities of others and the places where our expectations haven't been met. This habit keeps us trapped in a cycle of blame and dissatisfaction.

• Looking for what's right opens our hearts and allows us to live in gratitude.
• Looking for what's wrong keeps us focused on negativity and blame.
• We must choose to view the world through a lens of positivity.

Transforming Reality: By consciously choosing to look for what's right, we can shift our perspective and transform our experience of the world. This practice allows us to see the good in every situation and every person, leading to greater peace and contentment.

8. Life Force: Nurture Your Inner Flame

Each choice we make either adds to this force, making it stronger, igniting and feeding our flame, or diminishes the force, dampening our internal flame, reducing its power.

Vital Energy: Our life force is the vital energy that breathes life into our bodies. It is the guardian of our minds, bodies, and souls. Every choice we make either adds to this force, making it stronger, or diminishes it, reducing its power.

Nourishing Your Flame: To nurture our life force, we must make conscious choices that support our well-being, such as eating nutritious foods, getting enough rest, and engaging in activities that bring us joy. These choices keep our inner flame roaring, strong, and vibrant.

• Our life force is the key to our survival.
• We must make choices that feed our internal flame.
• When our life force is strong, we feel powerful and confident.

Depleting Your Energy: Choices that drain us of our energy, such as dwelling on the past, engaging in negative self-talk, or surrounding ourselves with toxic people, weaken our internal flame and diminish our vitality. We must be mindful of these choices and make a conscious effort to avoid them.

9. Growth vs. Self-Criticism: Embrace Learning

Everything in this life can be used to transform us, to bring us closer to our spiritual essence and our dreams.

The Power of Perspective: Every event in our lives, both positive and negative, can be used as a catalyst for growth and evolution. By choosing to see life as a teacher, we can transform pain into wisdom and use every experience to move us closer to our goals.

The Trap of Self-Criticism: When we use difficult situations as an opportunity to beat ourselves up, we become trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and recrimination. This pattern prevents us from learning from our experiences and moving forward.

• We must choose to use every situation as a catalyst for growth.
• Self-criticism prevents us from learning and moving forward.
• We must embrace the truth that there are no accidents.

Transforming Pain into Wisdom: By choosing to see our challenges as opportunities for growth, we can extract vital wisdom from them and use it to create a more fulfilling life. This requires a shift from self-blame to self-compassion and a willingness to learn from our mistakes.

10. Empowerment vs. Disempowerment: Choose Strength

When you are empowered you feel strong, alive, and clear, with a vibrant energy that runs through your body.

The Feeling of Empowerment: Empowerment is a state of being where we feel strong, alive, and clear, with a vibrant energy that runs through our body. Empowering choices leave us feeling secure and confident, while disempowering choices leave us feeling weak and resigned.

The Choice is Ours: Every day, we have the opportunity to make choices that either empower us or disempower us. By asking ourselves, "Does this choice empower me or disempower me?" we can become more aware of the impact of our actions and make choices that support our well-being.

• Empowerment is a state of strength and clarity.
• Disempowerment leaves us feeling weak and insecure.
• We must choose actions that leave us feeling strong and secure.

Taking Responsibility: When we make disempowering choices, we often look to others to give us our sense of self-worth. To break free from this pattern, we must take responsibility for our own empowerment and make choices that are aligned with our highest vision for ourselves.

11. Self-Love vs. Self-Sabotage: Honor Yourself

When you love yourself you feel worthy and deserving of claiming the gifts of this world.

The Foundation of a Fulfilling Life: Self-love is the foundation for a successful, fulfilled life. It means loving, honoring, and accepting all of who we are, including our strengths and weaknesses, our brilliance and our flaws.

The Trap of Self-Sabotage: Self-sabotage occurs when we make choices that are not in our best interest, often driven by unconscious needs and underlying commitments. These choices lead to feelings of guilt, shame, and disappointment, preventing us from achieving our goals.

• Self-love is the foundation for a successful life.
• Self-sabotage is an act of self-hatred.
• We must make choices that honor and cherish ourselves.

Choosing Self-Love: To choose self-love, we must make conscious choices that support our well-being and align with our deepest desires. This requires us to be aware of our self-sabotaging behaviors and to make a commitment to honoring ourselves in every moment.

12. Faith vs. Fear: Trust the Journey

When we are grounded in faith, we have the courage to travel to destinations we've never visited.

Two Guiding Forces: Every choice we make is guided by either faith or fear. Faith opens the door to new possibilities and allows us to take risks, while fear keeps us trapped in the past and prevents us from moving forward.

The Power of Faith: Faith is the belief in something beyond what we can see, feel, or know. It gives us the courage to trust in the divine order of life and to believe that we are being guided toward our highest good.

• Faith opens the door to a new future.
• Fear keeps us rooted in the past.
• We must choose to act from faith rather than fear.

Overcoming Fear: To live a faith-based life, we must confront our fears and make the conscious choice to trust in the universe. This requires us to surrender control and to believe that we are being taken care of, even when we cannot see the path ahead.

Last updated: January 22, 2025