Ask Me Anything?

Our Air Force base was blessed with opportunity to host Dan Clark, world renowned speaker, for a weekend of encouragement. I was particularly intrigued my one of the principles he addressed - Are we asking the right questions?

As I sip my reheated coffee this morning (Yes, I reheat. Why waste a good thing?) I pondered the premise of asking questions that lead others down a positive path . Clark comments that the media is often trying to "solicit negative answers" and this dominates our cultures and attitude.

It's much more than "looking on the bright side." Clark boldly challenges every one of us to talk about things that really matter instead of focusing on negativism and what people have done wrong. He gives the example of the first free elections in Iraq which he personally witnessed. The media was swamped with stories of bombings at the polling places. The reality of the situation was out of 5,578 polling stations - 11 were targeted by explosives. What happened to the success story? 5,567 election sites were NOT bombed. Why didn't someone ask the question - "What did people have to say at the other polling places?"

So what kind of questions can we ask to change the tenor of conversation in our home, our school, our city? Instead of asking our kids: How was your day at school? We could ask: Who helped you the most today? Don't give them the opportunity to whine about it. Or what about asking "What is one thing I can do to make your job easier?" or "What are some positive things that customers said about our service today?"

I understand that we need to fix problems and make changes to improve upon past mistakes, but let's start the conversation without the barrier of negativism.

What questions are YOU going to ask today? Grab a cup of caffeine and leave me a comment. I want to hear YOUR ideas.