Necessary Skills: Conversations

One of the prized attributes of a blog is the ability to have conversations either through linked posts or through comments. I want to thank my commenter's for their participation.

In that light I want to continue the conversation started in yesterday's post about the Art of Questions. Camille talked about her technique for finding answers by putting the question out there and then looking for clues to the answer. A valuable observation. In this case the 'out there' is beyond your current sandbox which accomplishes the requirement of thinking outside the box. Comedy+ contributes the observation that it is something that will never end and I hope so because when it does we have stopped growing and being present in our lives. And to RT who thinks "outside the box" to test his own paradigms and has kicked down the sides of his sandbox to enjoy his current freedom. It is worthwhile for you to read the comments and the blogs are listed in my sidebar should you want to visit. The next post will be on courage as it applies to the ongoing conversation. So please join me tomorrow and add to the richness of the conversation by leaving your comments.

Now on a lighter note some 'finds' from my travels on the web.

Rick Schwartz is known as the 'Domain King' has started a new blog The Rick Schwartz Domain and Traffic Blog and promises to tell "the skinny" on payouts. Looks like an interesting read for anyone seeking to make money on the Internet.

I love a good laugh and Mark Robinson Dot Ca has a good one. Check it out.

Under the zany category: Teachers seem to be taking hits these days from porn champions to being a witch. What next?

Thanks to me.blog for the tips to set up my recent comments feed in my sidebar.

You never know what goes on behind the scenes unless an it is brought to our attention. An excellent example of this can be found on Jimi Morrison's site about the ChaCha search engine.

Technorati tags: wealth from Within, perspective, conversations, thinking skills

Necessary Skills: The Art of Questions

Thank you for the good comments on yesterdays post on beliefs and the interest in today's topic. I think the situation is familiar to all of us when we are trying to make a change. We start by asking the standbys; how, when, where, who and what that we learned from our educational system. But, they don't seem to have any juice. They rarely create any AHA moments.

Why not?

I came to an understanding of the problem in trying to answer that question and the comment Camille made on yesterdays post. The understanding I reached is that we ask our questions from within our sandbox, our frame of reference, coming from our experiences and our thinking. Talk about a conflict of interest. All of those factors built our sandbox and yet we want to them at the same time to break out of that same sandbox.

So how do we knock down a wall of our sandbox? We don't do it from within our sandbox and we are not ready to change or throw out any of our beliefs yet. Alright, I have defined the problem but no solution yet. We need to find a way out and we do that by searching for a better question.

It is a process that allows us to keep our current beliefs while searching for a better replacement. Now I didn't show arrows going from answers or evaluate to a new question to keep the diagram simple. At any point you can short circuit the process and seek a better question. The source of a new question could be anything you want as long as it is outside of your current experiences. A poem, a book, a post, a movie, or a question posed by anyone else. The seeking of a better question is the catalyst that will put you outside of your sandbox.

For example; I stated in my post on goals that I wanted to become a digital nomad. Well Micheal from digital nomad asked a better question. It was simple but effective. He simply asked "where do you want to live?" I don't have a clue so I will start by trying to answer that question.

So what is the Art of Questions?
Seek for better questions than you have been using if you want to pull down the walls of your sandbox.

Technorati tags: wealth from Within, thinking, goals

When is a Belief not a Belief

When you read how someone has made a success of their life; do you ever say "boy, they were lucky" or "it's who you know" or "what do you expect; they have ...". I know I have. I would give some kind of mystical aura to events that I wish would happen for me BUT there is always some explanation as why it can't happen for me; something beyond my control.

Yesterday I was reading digital nomads post and checked out Bill Vaughn's Wealth From Thin Air and something clicked on reading his first secret. It was a concept that I had been searching for without knowing what it was for years. Then today I was reading the post by Tony D. Clark from Success from the Nest on finding your purpose and from Guy Kawasaki's Blog - How to Change the World about fixed and growth mindset's and everything jelled.

I have read all kinds of self-help material and I am very aware of not applying negative statements to myself such as "I can't" and have been reasonably successful in eliminating them from my vocabulary. What I hadn't connected to was the fact that when I say statements like "boy, they were lucky"; it is also a statement of belief. Beliefs I had unknowingly accepted just by agreeing to what other people were saying without thinking.

How many beliefs do we have that we have unconsciously accepted that are forming a barrier to creating our wealth from within? So I have set for myself the task to become aware of any statements that I use that limits me in any way. Once discovered; I am going to research why I believe that and whether it is true. I believe I will find that it isn't and I will have knocked down another barrier to living my life to the fullest.

I will be posting about milestones on this journey under the category "Wealth from Within" and you are all invited to share in the comments your success stories and triumphs.

The answer to the question: Whenever a belief is unquestioned.

Isn't it time to own your beliefs?

Technorati tags: thinking, Wealth from Within, perspective, vision

Is Art more Valuable than Science?

Thank you to Jason from Love To Lead for the question. Art is considered by most of us to be the ultimate expression of creativity while Science is considered the realm of logical thinkers delving into the mystery's of the universe. I would argue that scientific exploration is an art form.

A scientist exploring new ground must use creative thinking to to postulate a new theory and then quite often create new tools to explore and communicate their theory no different than what an artist does. When an astronomer gazes at the explosion of stars in the night sky do they feel any different than a photographer or painter looking at the same sky. I think they all feel the same awe. 

If art appeals to our feelings; is there a difference?

I think not and so I would answer no to this question. Creativity is creativity no matter what form it takes.

 

Technorati tags: creativity, thinking, skills