Why did we lose the Power of Asking?
We were all born with the power of asking.
Only seconds after we were born, we already started screaming our lungs
out to complain about that drastic drop in temperature, from our
mother’s womb to that cold hospital room… And if we took too long to
cry, the doctor slapped us to make sure we cried, because that meant
everything was okay with us.
But that is about the only time in life
somebody actually encourages us to cry. After that, it’s pretty much a
conspiracy to try and keep us quiet.
Why is that baby crying? Where’s that pacifier, for crying out loud? (No pun intended…)
It only gets worse from there. And it’s
not just our parents — it’s school, it’s religion, (especially
religion), it’s social norms… Think about it. Have you any idea how many
times we hear the word “no” by the time we are 10 years old? It’s no,
you can’t, it’s not allowed, this is not for you, not now, don’t do
this, be quiet (or the less polite “shut up!)…
Now, compare how often we’re told all
those variations of “no” to how often we’re told yes. The truth is we
are told “no” so many more times than “yes” that we begin to expect a
“no”. And what happens when we begin to expect a “no”? Exactly. We stop asking!
That’s why by the time we are in our teens or early adult years, we’ve all but lost the power of asking.
So, is there any hope? Is there anything we can do to resurrect the power of asking within us? The good news is there is, and we’ll explore that in our upcoming posts, but before I finish today I’d like you to know this:
Asking is the beginning of receiving.
Successful people are often just better askers. They ask more of life, and so they get more.
If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’ll always be in the same place.
