The New Year means nothing if your mind is still boxed up in its comfort zone. You know this is true. Don’t live the same year 89 times and call it a life.
And don’t just think outside the box in 2018…
Think like there is no box.
Free your mind!
How?
Start by asking yourself better questions.
Questions that break you away from all the comforting distractions in your life, so you can refocus your thoughts on what matters most:
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A Slightly Deeper Dive into Self-Questioning
As I alluded to in the intro, the questions you ask yourself on a regular basis can determine the type of person you become. Self-questioning, when leveraged effectively and consistently, gradually frees your mind to focus on what matters most. This process is something Angel and I have successfully guided hundreds of our coaching clients and course students through over the past decade, to help them cope with the various debilitating sources of stress that were holding them back.
If you’d like to better cope with the stress in your own life in 2018, I’ll give you a few bonus questions to consider. Unlike the questions above, which focus on the big picture of what’s important to you, the following will support you when you’re derailed by the frustrations of life’s smaller everyday encounters. The key to using these questions is embracing the fact that most of the frustrations and stress in your daily life could be avoided if you would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?”
So next time a random life situation starts to get the best of you, pause, take a deep breath, and then ask yourself:
- What is the story I’m telling myself about this situation?
- Can I be absolutely certain the story is true?
- How do I feel and behave when I tell myself the story?
- If I stopped telling myself the story once and for all, what else might I see, hear, or experience?
Give yourself the space to think it through carefully. Mull it over consciously. And see how doing so frees your mind to respond more peacefully and appropriately in the year ahead.
It’s your turn…
Above all, what you need to remember is that it’s not the answers you get from others, but the questions you ask yourself that will help you grow stronger.
So I challenge you to re-read and reference all the questions above throughout 2018. And keep in mind that they have no right or wrong answers. Because asking the right questions of yourself, regularly, is the answer.
Please, ask away…
And share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
If you’re up to it, we’d love to read your response to the very first question: In one sentence, who are you?
Also, our next annual Think Better, Live Better conference is taking place February 10-11, 2018 in San Diego, and we’d love to see you there. We just released 10 more tickets (while they last).
Tayla says
Happy New Year, Marc & Angel!
With every email and blog post I read of yours I get a bit stronger inside. I’ve also recently completed your getting back to happiness course, and the daily rituals you’ve set me up with have already had a profound impact on my peace of mind and productivity.
Thank you!
And to answer your first question:
I am an eccentric square peg in an ocean of round holes who has finally accepted herself and the occasional isolation that inevitably comes with peacefully being myself.
Shriya says
Your last paragraph was really a good self description. Keep it up.
Agnes Utunga Phiri says
thank you thank you – Happy blessed 2018 to you both
Cmac Salcedo says
Take time to see and appreciate the sunrise on a bench on the hilltop morning side effects of remembering the south oaks, and think about what is the one thing you will never give up on.
James Henne says
In one sentence: I am the sum of 54 years of life experiences, choices, accomplishments, failures, and work – and I will continue to grow with every new experience, accomplishment, failure and task to come.
Love this post—love these questions! I learn so much from your posts and emails. I also bought your book just before Christmas and love it too, thanks for everything you share. You’re a blessing.
Megan says
Your emails always arrive in my inbox at the perfect time!
Thank you for being a a constant source of guidance in my life. And happy 2018!
In this post I appreciate the way you’ve framed these questions as tools for eliminating the noice and focusing your mind. And I really like that “think like there is no box” analogy too.
In one sentence, who am I?
I am free will and pure awareness, the producer and the witness of the mind that drives this body forward.
Thanks again for these thoughtful, beautiful questions. And I will; be seeing you two in San Diego at your Think Better conference! Just got two tickets for my husband and I.
Cindy says
I am a spiritual being having a human experience–I AM Love.
Bhagyashree Kasar says
Happy new year Marc and Angel..
May we get more and more motivated by your mails.
Thank you for the motivation you gave me and made me realise few of my mistakes.
I am looking forward for my positive future, also I am confident that I can do much better in my life!
Once again a hearty thank you!
Doug says
I am the sun, trying to peek out of dark clouds to share myself with the world.
Claudia Volano says
I am someone and I am no one.
J.T. says
I am full of lif and amazingly unpredictable. Describing myself is like trying to put fireworks in you’re pocket. Can’t be done very easily.
kim says
who am i❓
i am a being that continues to grow into consciousness one experience at a time…
Caroline Driver says
For the first question, I was fishing round for something profound and worthy, like, I’m a mother, or, a practising Buddhist. But when I stopped and actually looked inside at what that sentence produced, it said ‘I am one who drifts, who can never settle because I feel different every day and is always looking for something else, even though I have a feeling I know what the real answer is ‘ (Dharma). Interesting.
Lahiru says
Waaw its fantastic
Jen says
I am a shining person in this world that fights to continue to create beauty in the midst of adversity. I am love, life, joy and light.
Laura Noe says
Thank you for words of wisdom, truly the best emails I receive are from you Marc and Angel.
I am Love.
Happy, healthy and hopeful 2018.
Henry says
Marc and Angel,you are indeed transforming the lives of many.God bless you.You have made us young people change the way we perceive life.thank you
Charlotte Whitten says
I am a daughter, sister, friend, boss trying to do the right thing, not always succeeding, but forever striving to improve.
Thank you for all your inspiration and tools. Best wishes in 2018!
Selena says
I have been meaning to say it for quite a long while.
I could go over all the reasons but the list was long; it changes still…..but thankfully not very often now.
I speak for myself, but also for all the others, who may be still struggling….for they are not yet able to focus on much else.
I have read your words of strength, wisdom, experience and focus; and it was often these alone that got me through…and still remind me to this day.
I can truly say I am a much better person for them….so please anyone needing a hand, needing confirmation….hang in there; use every bit of those words and sentences to help you be that little bit better, feel that little bit stronger, everyday….you will come through….hang on.
Mark and Angel, you are terrific people….you deserve so much more recognition….for you are the Saints…and no doubt you have saved many lives.
Thankyou….for everything you do….from all that have needed you, and all that still will…..Thankyou.
Michelle Jones says
I am a believer.
I believe that there’s more than just this here and now.
I believe in my power to achieve what I want-IF I put in the work to make it happen.
I believe that you reap what you sow.
And finally…I believe in Love
Janet says
Wow, this stopped me completely in my tracks and made me really look into myself. Very thought provoking questions and one I will be sure to come back to regularly. Thank you!
In one sentence, who am I?
I am a spiritual person connecting with God through all of life’s manifestations.
Ali says
Thank you again for another thought provoking post. Please can I ask you to give working example for these
What is the story I’m telling myself about this situation?
Can I be absolutely certain the story is true?
How do I feel and behave when I tell myself the story?
If I stopped telling myself the story once and for all, what else might I see, hear, or experience?
I’m not sure if a situation, and the answer I would use.
Thank you!
maggie says
Thank you Marc and Angel and may 2018 be full of learning and growth for all of us. I love the answers the other commenters gave to question 1. Mine is less satisfactory to me now now but
oh well. I’ll share it anyway.
I am Maggie who loves books, ideas, family and friends and who worries more than is good for me.
Love to all of you who are reading this and I wish all of you the gift of hope. x x
Christien says
I no longer know who I am. It’s been a very long time that I’ve been honest enough with myself to go there.
There are memories of being a fun, full of laughter, kind and compassionate me.
I look forward to me asking that question and giving myself the true honest answer.
I love your blog, it does give me direction, thank you.
Sandy says
I’m a woman of passion who loves fiercely, feels deeply, seeks peace and love, nature lover, God worshiper and student of life.
Cathy says
I just read this after writing a letter to my husband trying to express how I feel right now. This has changed my mind about what I wrote and got me questioning the story I am telling myself (we’re not doing too great). Your emails have been a constant source of help (I’ve stuck these in different places where I can look at them daily as a reminder). Thank you and I certainly look forward to a focused 2018
Yvette Thompson says
Who am I?
I am one of millions of prisms mirroring Divine Love.
Happy New Year!
Anna W. says
I love this!
Steph says
Marc and Angel
Happy new year, I hope it brings you great joy happiness and contentment🌸
I am only just learning who I am at the age of 51.
After 6 years of suicide bereavement for my soulmate, I am starting to emerge with a very clear view and awareness of life and myself. I have overcome my greatest fear.
I am strong. I am a survivor. I am wiser, and I still have much to learn, and much to give.
🌸
Nicole says
I am a person who has experienced so much, but has decades more to come; piecing together my aspirations and reality may form the difference I long to make in this crowded world.
Judy says
Hopefully a better person than I was last year this time.😉
Bradley A Harris says
Who are you? I’m a man that is passionate about God, how he is working in my life.
Ann C says
I am a woman who has loved and lost but continues to love and care about others, and believes there is a God who loves me and wants the best for me as I wait upon Him.
Tata says
I relate…
greg b says
I am a growing awareness continually seeking positive experiences and insights I can enjoy and share that expand my knowledge, sovereignty, prosperity, relationships, spirituality, health and horizons. I seek living in the moment stimulated and connected by the energy of the universe in all its forms.
Elaine Reimann says
I am an adventurer, learning to not fear what life has to offer and who is defining more accurately each day what I want and what my purpose is.
Chen says
I am observer. the middle of the things i can and cannot be. an animal with swaying perspectives; with faith for without it i wouldve perished.
sasha says
I AM.
I AM simply myself. I AM a survivor . I AM a son with no parents AM a brother
I AM broken
BUT ! i can be repaired
I AM on the outside. wish i were welcomed in
If not..o well i guess thats life.
I AM not scared and know whats right
and on my mothers urn thats why i fight
I AM SASHA
im tired GOODNIGHT i would like like
to thank everyone
i respect and admire
your work and
unrivaled common unity
word
Deb Kelly says
I found the questions interesting but couldn’t provide an answer for most of them. I think I am lost in trying to start this journey–I can’t seem to find the starting line.
Helimar says
Who Am I?
Just an awesome human being who is not perfect but is surely trying everyday to succeed, and of course not achieving it everyday but still trying.
I am a mother of two trying the best of me to be the best mom I can to raise beautiful, honest, happy and successful adults.
I am a 45 year-old, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, godmother, divorced to be woman who will try to be happy untill my very last breath.
I am somebody looking for answers never to be answered.
I am a soul looking for spiritual growth.
I am HELIMAR and I am very thankful to you both, may GOD always give you health and strengh to keep on helping people.
Cheers to a better world
KM29 says
I absolutely love this post! It is one of my favourites. and as all your posts do, has arrived at exactly the right time.
Who am I?
I am one who has lost my way in an effort to please everyone around me and I have become an accumulation of the right things to say at the right time and I am desperate to find the real me again.
These questions, and constantly asking them, will help me find myself again.
Tata says
I don’t recognize myself anymore, I used to be a strong person with great opened happy personality who has become frustrated sad lonely full of insecurities without bright future despite huge dreams to live.