As kids, we keep on nagging elders with hundreds of questions. Sometimes they are answered and sometimes ignored, but the fun is in asking. As we grow up the number of questions we ask reduces dramatically. Obviously, we get educated and gain knowledge and have lesser questions left unanswered. If this is what you thought - nothing can be more wrong! In fact, 'education' confuses us resulting in even more doubts and queries. The pool of questions expand rather than shrink as we grow up. So why aren't we asking questions anymore? Well, may be we aren't asking the right type of questions!
When we are young, we are in a 'get-to-know' mode. Most of the things we see are new and we are curious to know what they are. We are intellectually naive and not able to figure out this ourselves. That's when we ask the 'what is' question. As we grow up, we learn to identify most of the things around us. Also, we are now capable enough to explore and figure out answers to most of 'what is' questions. So, we don't feel the need to ask such questions anymore. Well, this is the time to challenge our intellect and assumptions. Ask the more interesting 'what if' questions!
We have been taught to except and assume. Our education stresses on theorems, laws and formula. Well, life is beyond these mathematical poems. Life can neither be defined by laws nor anticipated by formulas. Life is a path we traverse based on decisions. Each one of our decision points is a node in life from which a new path is drawn until the next one. Change one of these decision points and your life would be very different from what it is right now. Ever imagined what if you had not applied for the job your are in or what if you didn't propose to the person you are married to? No. The reason, simple - these questions don't matter. Well, IMHO, they do. The decisions that we took in past might have been the best ones at that point of time but if we take some time to think what if we had chosen some other path and trace our life, we might land up in a better position! OK, even if we do this exercise, what the hell do we achieve. Well, we learn a bit of the secret of life. If we know how our decisions unconsciously control our life, we might be able to control our decisions consciously. It all starts with asking the 'what if' questions.
This is very similar to a game of chess. Each player traces each of his possible moves till the end of the game. All this happens in the mind of the player - imagination. Finally, he has a map in his mind which helps him in making the best possible decision, even if that requires losing a pawn in his move. This requires repeatedly asking the 'what if' question for each of the possible moves and counter-moves. Unfortunately, life is not spread in front of us like a chess board. The pieces and squares are unknown, leave apart the external factors. The only way to learn making best possible move in life is by tracing back to the decision points and tracing it back like a chess master. What if I had not applied for this job, would I have waited until a better opportunity, would I have taken up entrepreneurship? If you think, the number of such questions is amazingly large. Try to figure out the answers and you can equip yourself with better tools for tracing your future in very close to the manner you want. A word of caution though - Life remains unpredictable. It is the possibility of looking into future by tracing back your past which makes it interesting!
So start asking some 'grown-up' questions, go on!
