What If?

What if…?

Our 3-year-old granddaughter’s favorite question to ask is “What if.”

“What if this accidentally gets broken? What would you do?”

“What if the dog ate this? What would happen?”

“What if a lion got in the house? What would you do?”

I’m sure many of you can remember your kids or grandkids going through this same phase of “what ifs” and “whys.” It’s funny because to an adult, 90% of the “What ifs” they ask, make no sense at all UNLESS, you are an unbelievably curious 3-year-old. Lol.

As a young child’s mind is developing, they seem to be flooded with this overwhelming curiosity and desire to understand the world around them.

This got me thinking… At what point did we stop using “What If” as a key for growth and started using it as a question we ask ourselves to pertain to negative outcomes that might occur?

“What if I get fired?”

“What if I fail?”

“What if things never get back to normal.”

Nina Amir (the Inspiration-to-Creation Coach), believes “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 potentially negative future. And where your focus goes, energy flows. Said another way, you create what you focus on.”

So how do we move forward from this? How do we restore our child-like curiosity and desire for knowledge, while kicking the negative “What ifs” to the curb? We can start asking questions like…

“What if I reach this goal.”

“What if I get back into shape.”

“What if I have a great day.”

“What if I CAN do it.”

Most importantly, WHAT IF our kids and grandkids started hearing us ask ourselves these types of questions? WHAT IF we end up teaching the next generation that you never have to outgrow the “WHAT IFs.”

WHAT IF we replace that negative fear and teach ourselves and our future generations the most important “What if”?

What if “I can be anything I want to be, do anything I set out to accomplish if I hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” –Abraham Lincoln

What positive “What if” questions have you tried successfully?