{"id":7490,"date":"2011-09-29T22:38:35","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T06:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=7490"},"modified":"2013-09-13T07:56:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T15:56:42","slug":"the-awesome-power-of-two-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-awesome-power-of-two-words\/","title":{"rendered":"The Awesome Power of Two Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”<\/em> – Senator Robert F. Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The working of the human mind naturally lends itself to metaphor as in: the playground of the mind, the battlefield of the mind, the mind as a prison. What all these allusions depend upon is framing \u2013 the mind\u2019s natural process of capturing an idea and using it to define and focus your attention on whatever is within its scope.<\/p>\n

Framing is the process that truly confirms the Biblical statement: \u201cAs a man thinketh in his heart [Hebrew for mind] so is he.\u201d If you think of your mind as a playground for ideas \u2013 it will be. If you think of it as a prison \u2013 it will be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some people their thinking does seem to imprison them through the spiraling of their negative thoughts; it brings ceaseless unrest.<\/p>\n

What they need is a way to break out of that cycle to create mental freedom.<\/p>\n

So what can help? Enter the two words: \u201cWhat\u2026if\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Do not scoff at these little incantations \u2013 they are not magic in the Harry Potter sense \u2013 but given what they can do the results can seem magical. They can help you step back, step up and step out<\/em> of a limiting way of thinking.<\/p>\n

You have probably heard about the power of acting \u201cas-if\u201d. It seems so trite on paper and I think many people give up on the process because when they try \u2018faking it\u2019 the original behavior is so strongly engrained that they strain against it \u2013 and fall back.<\/p>\n

But these two words can act to open up a new world of thinking and I\u2019m going to tell you how.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s say you want to start thinking more positively and you feel you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming the challenge to \u2018I can\u2019t\u2019 is usually: \u2018What if you could?\u201d Pick something that is possible in the world but doesn\u2019t seem possible for you and ask yourself: \u201cWhat if I could?\u201d You need to be prepared to push yourself but what the question does is challenge your brain to find a way to make the transition work.<\/p>\n