Your mind ultimately answers every question you ask it

The reason I became fanatical was because this elegant statement zinged down into the way deep for me when I first read it. It tingled there because I had already formulated my own version, one born out of panic.

My formula was something like this: desperation and determination yield results.

I came to this understanding in light of our experience in the first couple of financial crash years. At first it was in the form of desperate pleas — prayers — for help.

The first time I was seeking an answer to this question: how will we survive this economic meltdown for the next two years? The answer came immediately — sell your house, now.

The second time I was traveling down the west coast of Florida six months later. We’d sold the house quickly for an excellent price in that market — and had made it through that unbearably bad season.

Next, with summer coming on, we had no way to pay our staff for the coming six months . . . so again, desperation and determination commingled. I was desperate, and yet determined to find a way.

This time I was on an extended trip returning artwork to artists — my fourth such trip in as many months — so that we could save on the shipping costs. With sales plummeting, we had artwork piling up in the gallery. With no home to absorb the overflow, we had to find a way to return enough so we could operate.

For a couple of days I had been making an assertion — and praying like a true believer for the answer — that the way to keep our business afloat for the summer would appear.

I vacillated between asserting and asking — I’d heard both methods work, so not being choosy I employed both.

That answer came — see if you can join up with your favorite art transporter. Ping! It was just like that. The idea sprung fully formed into my mind . . . and I felt a ripple of excitement, as if the idea were actionable, even in the hyper-recession.

I made the call — Bob had me working two days later.

When I came across the Buckminster Fuller quote I wrote it down in my planner every week for weeks, as a reminder to ask.  And to ask patiently and persistently and with faith that the answer would come in its own time.

What I especially like about Fuller’s statement — your mind ultimately answers every question you ask it — is that it doesn’t imply urgency is a requirement.

Now I try to ask poignant questions to train myself that desperation need not be a factor.

How can I give during this time when my financial giving has been cut way back? This website is one way.

How can we have more sensuality in our child-centric world? (Hey, not every question has to be lofty!) The answers to this one are better left unposted.

You get the idea. With enough training my brain will get the idea too. It’s a matter of training myself down to the soul level — the energetic level some would say, the subconscious/collective conscious mind others would say — where communication with the Infinite is transmitted.

I’m looking forward to playing with this for years to come. I’ll check back in with you from time to time to forward results.

You know what else? I’d love to hear from you! About your methods (and your results) when you’ve ardently sought a solution to an issue in your life.