Asking the right questions is often the answer.

In a recent email newsletter I wrote, “Calm your mind today. Don’t just think outside the box; think like there is no box.”

And to my surprise, 97 people quoted that line and responded with the same general question: “How?”

I’ve spent the morning thinking about how to answer their collective question in the most universal way possible, and I’ve decided that the simplest explanation I can give is this: Ask yourself better questions — questions that focus your thoughts and filter out the excess noise that’s been cluttering your mind.

The calming and healing power of a positive imagination is unleashed by constraining your focus. Constraints drive creativity and force mindful thinking. It may sound counterintuitive at first but, in a backwards way, you break out of the box by stepping into the right shackles.

And that’s exactly what the questions below can help you with — shackling the noise in your head by channeling your focus into meaningful thoughts and moments of self-refection. Let these questions shift your perspective and guide you gracefully forward…

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Please share the questions above with others who you think will benefit from them. And as always, please share your thoughts with Marc and me in the comments section below. If you’re up to it, we would love to read your response to the very first question:  In one sentence, who are you?

(Also note that many of these photo-illustrated questions were initially created for our sister site, Thought Questions, but since we rarely update that site anymore we decided to share the questions with you here. Finally, many of these questions have also been published in the guided journal, “The Good Morning Journal”, which was published by Penguin last year.)
For photo credits please refer to ThoughtQuestions.com