How Instead of Why

“HOW” Instead Of “WHY”

We have been taught that the entire subject of thinking is shrouded in biochemistry, unfathomable genetic process, emotional injuries sustained in childhood, and quantum physics that defy logic. Even the experts can not come to any kind of usable consensus. No wonder so many problems arise from processes we all must use every minute of our waking day.

Thankfully, my parents, teachers, and friends did not realize learning how to do something was impossibly difficult. My mother taught me how to swim at age three; my father taught me how to ride a bike, and so on. They managed to teach me an incredible amount by age eight. After that if I wanted to understand how to do something, my first step was to ask someone who knew how to do it to teach me how to do it.

We can fast forward to an adult me in my late thirties. I spent a lot of time wondering why life was so difficult. Why are relationships so likely to fail and why raising children is at one time, the most rewarding thing we can do, and the most frustrating exercise in futility? Instead of giving up I decided to learn to meditate because I was told that meditation was the path to personal peace and tranquility. It is that, but the world I left behind when I went into my bedroom to meditate was still lurking outside the door to cause me the same old problems after my meditation session was finished.

So, trying to understand what to do and how to do it to make my life different, somehow led me to an incredible conclusion. If I wanted to learn how to be a happy, peaceful, and productive adult, I should ask the adults who are, if I could find them. That conclusion started a process that goes on still, but many, if not most, of the questions I had then, have been answered, only to give rise to others more intriguing and marvelous, but the process of asking, learning, and practicing has become a way of life and continues to yield amazing results.

Since I wanted to become successful in many different areas of my life it seemed to be reasonable to study how successful people do the things they do. Little did I know there was so much information available. Asking “how” instead of “why” was a very different direction than that being used by most “experts,” but it was the most important decision I would ever make.

What is missing for most of us is the how, the skills necessary, to do those things successfully. We don’t need to know how the engine in our car works to drive a car. We don’t need to know how a computer works to surf the internet. And we certainly don’t need to understand the biochemistry of our brain to be able to take control of the thought processes going on in it.

Thinkers, philosophers, visionaries, saints, and all successful people all have something very important in common. We are all included in these categories because we share those same very important things and you will soon see that you really do. I don’t have to prove a thing. You can do that for yourself.

The proof is all around us and in many of the things we already do every day. I accidentally discovered the key to a happy, peaceful, and prosperous life in the eighth grade. I just didn’t realize what it was or how to apply it to the other areas in my life that caused me problems for the next 40 years. It is actually so easy to understand that I often feel like the guy in the V-8 commercial.