What questions do you ask yourself ?

The quality of the question we ask ourselves determines the quality of the answer. Let’s say you’re trying to gain relief from your IBS symptoms. You’ve been struggling to cope with discomfort, bloating, gas, and everyday you find yourself asking, “Why is this happening to me?” or, “Why can I never have a day without having to rush to the loo?” or “How long am I going to spend straining on the loo this morning?”

What answers do you think you will you get back to questions like these? Probably something like, “I’m never going to be free of IBS.” or, “I bet I have to leave rush out of the team meeting again,” or “I hope it’s not an hour like yesterday.”

Where do these answers get you? Nowhere useful and most likely more stressed, anxious and depressed.

It certainly wouldn’t make you feel resourceful and optimistic about the future. A future in which your IBS is gone or is at a level where it doesn’t cause significant disruption to your life.

You’re not alone

If you ask yourself questions like those above you’re not alone. It’s very common to ask ourselves pointless and disempowering questions like these that simply lead us down into a spiral of negative thoughts and feelings.

The thing is our brains are designed to answer our questions, so when you ask a disempowering question you are going to get a disempowering answer. That’s why it’s critical to make sure you ask questions that move you forward into a resourceful state and/or identify solutions. Such questions are called Empowering Questions.

Empowering Questions

I learned about empowering questions from my friend, and fellow coach, Amanda Foo-Ryland. I’ve been asking myself at least one empowering question every day, ever since, such as “How good is today going to be?” or “How easily am I going to be able to use my skills to help my clients today?’ I’ve found empowering questions to be so powerful and life changing, that I share this simple life changing technique with all my IBS clients.

I recommend you start asking yourself empowering questions

If you are experiencing IBS I recommend you start asking yourself at least one empowering question first thing in the morning. This is going to prime your mind to look for positives rather than focus on negatives like checking for pain or bloating, or imagining being unable to reach a toilet in time.

Example Empowering questions

Here are some suggested empowering questions you might ask yourself:

• “How much more comfortable is my gut going to feel today?”

• “How much more regular are my bowel movements going to be today?”

• "How much more control am I going to have over my bowel movements to day.”

• “How easy is it going to be to find a toilet today if I need one today?

These questions presupposes that there’s already something positive happening (e.g. some level of comfort, however low) and that today it’s simply going to be better than it has been. They also set your mind to looking for useful, supportive answers.

What might your empowering question(s) be?

The key thing is to think, “Does this question move me towards my goal, or away from my goal?” Your empowering question should always move you towards your goal, for instance gaining greater relief from your IBS symptoms.

Summary

Our brains are designed to answer our questions, so it’s critical to make sure we ask questions that will move us forward into a resourceful state. If you're experiencing IBS is likely you are asking yourself disempowering questions. By getting into the habit of asking empowering questions each day you are going to help to shift your mind and body into recovery mode.

What next?

If you need help coming up with some empowering questions reach out to me and I can help you design some.