When I was a kid, I asked incessantly “What if…?” What if my doll grows real hair? What if I eat nothing but chocolate cake? What if it never stops raining? What if the apple seeds I just swallowed grow into trees in my belly? My parents got a little tired of it, and tried really hard to get me to stick with known reality. But the questions continued inside me, even though I asked fewer of them out loud. Even as an adult, I’ve kept on asking.

There’ve been times when I’ve used “what if” in a very limiting way. I’ve used it as an avoidance of doing something I didn’t want to do or was scared of doing. I could paralyze myself with considering all the things that could go wrong, so I’ve pretty much ceased that use.

On the other hand, I’ve used “what if” to problem-solve by expanding my creative imagination. I’ve used it in project planning and action planning. I’ve also used it like a magnet to bring myself into the aspects of life I want to live - often called the law of attraction.

Even now in my senior years, “What if?” is still part of my way of life. These days, I use it in a more refined way, a way that helps me to access my inner knowing - which I call the wisdom of my heart - especially in situations that I find challenging. You see, I believe that there is ALWAYS a something good, some kind of blessing or gift in whatever is going on - but I don’t always recognize what that is. So I ask myself “What if this is for me rather than against me?” Or “What if there’s a life lesson in it for me, what might that be?” Or “what if not getting what I wanted in this situation is actually setting me up for something even better?” I don’t always know what the answer is right away; but asking the question certainly shifts me into a more open and positive state of mind, emotion, and body. That peaceful benefit alone makes it worth the asking.

I sometimes coach my clients this way: What if you had a guardian angel or a higher self or spiritual guide inside you who cares only about uplifting you for your highest good, and who set this situation up just so you could learn something or heal something or grow in some way? What would that be? Almost every time I ask the question, the person just pulls the answer right out of their own inner wisdom, bringing with it a peaceful, knowing smile.

But what if the answer doesn’t come? For my clients, I suggest the same thing I do for myself: I just keep the question open and alive until the answer comes. And it always does. It often requires my moving my perspective to a much higher one, to see a much bigger picture … but it always comes. It may not come right away … but it always comes. And even before the answer comes, the peaceful benefit of the question comes.

So what if you’re thinking “nah, this ‘what-if’ business doesn’t work”?

Well … what if it does?

What If?