Tim Brownson: Don’t Ask Stupid Questions

I recently read through the e-book version of Don’t Ask Stupid Questions (There Are No Stupid Questions) by Tim Brownson. Tim is a Life Coach and has a blog called The Discomfort Zone, which I’ve been a fan of for a while now.

Like Tim’s blog, Don’t Ask Stupid Questions made me laugh at least once each page. I love Tim’s sense of humour - it’s off-the-wall and yet spot-on! Our lives are obviously important, but that doesn’t mean we have to be serious and sombre all the time. We can have some fun with personal development, and Tim’s approach encourages us to do just that. Laughter and results can happily co-exist!

Using humour and examples from Tim’s own life and common challenges that his coaching clients experience, the book presents a series of questions that we can ask ourselves to help us step out of our comfort zones and create a life that we love. Each chapter is dedicated to one question and is one or two pages in length, allowing us to stop after each bite-size chunk and mull over the question presented. It is obviously up to you how you approach a book like this; I tend to read through books containing questions and/or exercises (without stopping to do each exercise as it arises) to get the overall framework in my mind before going back and spending time delving into the details. I did this with some of Tim’s book, although I did find myself pausing after many of the chapters and reflecting on the questions presented. In the introduction to the book, Tim also mentions that the chapters can be worked through in any order – I read through the book in the order in which it was presented, although second pass through the book has taken a more scenic detour depending on which questions feel more relevant to me at this time.

Whichever way you choose to read this book, please do not skip the introspection and action asked of you by the questions. These are certainly challenging questions, but they are also most certainly questions that can help you change you life for the better if you allow them to. Tim’s questions made me think right from the get-go. For example, I read the second chapter, Who is the most important person in the world to you?, confident that I knew the answer: me! And indeed, that is the answer… I have so much more to offer the world when I look after myself first. This is not a selfish position in the way we traditionally have used the word selfish, because such kindness to oneself is not done at any expense, least of all at the expense of others. Rather it is a position that acknowledges the priority of one’s own emotional, mental and spiritual health in order to help others reach that state too. I know this, and I practice it, or at least I thought I did, for when I got to the end of the chapter and considered the question (“If you accept that you are the most important person in the world, what can you do differently to demonstrate that belief?”), I realised that I had been neglecting myself and not honouring those things that are important to me. I’ve since starting living up to being my own BFF* and have noticed a significant energy shift in my life for the better.

Don’t Ask Stupid Questions is a practical book that would suit people with fairly analytic minds who are used to the principles of goal-setting and want to become more effective at this. However, Tim has also introduced some more esoteric concepts, like manifesting, into the book, presented in a way that makes them understandable and palatable to people who may never have encountered such concepts. For those of us who are comfortable with both the physical and metaphysical, Tim’s book is a good blend of both.

Don’t Ask Stupid Questions is currently available via Tim’s website in hard copy and e-book format. He is also currently giving away his latest e-book, Know Yourself, Change Yourself, free of charge and you can download this via the link above as well.

[*BFF = Best Friend Forever]

Do You Have First Sight?

“First Sight is when you can see what’s really there, not what your heid* tells you ought to be there…. Second sight is dull sight, it’s seeing only what you expect to see.” (The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett)

[*heid = head]

I’m an avid fan of Terry Pratchett’s novels, even those that are technically for children, such as The Wee Free Men quoted above! The stories are amusing and entertaining, yet Terry also has the knack for including gems of astute observation on the world around him.

I love the idea of seeing the things that are really there, and it made me think about how we usually describe the psychic realm and psychic abilities. In everyday language, people often joke about “seeing what isn’t there”. There is most likely no malicious intent behind saying something like this, but it does contribute to the prevailing view that only what is visible in the physical world through physical eyesight qualifies as reality. I think I prefer Terry Pratchett’s viewpoint, which acknowledges the reality of the spiritual world!

The idea of “First” and “Second” sight also brings up the challenges that we face in trusting ourselves enough to acknowledge what we initially experience intuitively before our so-called logical minds try to convince us that the experience isn’t valid, that it’s all in our minds. For me it has been, and continues to be, a learning process. Although I was often described as “sensitive”, I wasn’t the “psychic one” in the family – my own abilities weren’t immediately apparent and I suppressed them in favour of the “real experts” in my own family. As a result, it took me some time to recognise my own intuitive processes and to trust that they were both valid and valuable. Thinking about this, it strikes me that, while I come from a family in which there was far more openness to psychic experiences, I probably had a similar journey in terms of developing trust in myself and my abilities that someone from a more skeptical background would have :).

I’d be interested to hear your experiences with overcoming doubt about accepting intuitive information – please leave a comment and share!

Andrea Hess: Unlock Your Intuition

Andrea Hess is one of my favourite people :). I’ve been an avid reader of her blog for a while now, and I can honestly say that Andrea’s articles have played a big role in helping me to align with my highest path and purpose. Even though I came to Andrea’s site already fairly familiar with my own intuitive abilities, I have had quite a few “a-ha!” moments while reading through Andrea’s blog, and my spiritual growth has progressed in leaps and bounds as a result. It was no surprise that I therefore jumped at the chance to purchase Andrea’s book when it came out!

Unlock Your Intuition is best used as a workbook. It is full of practical exercises to help you to hone your intuitive ability to the point where you can easily and reliably access it when you need it. I tend to read books straight through fairly quickly when I first get them, as I like to get the framework of the material in my head before I dig deeper into the nitty-gritty of the information. I did this with Andrea’s book, skimming through each of the exercises – but since then, I’ve been going back (and back and back!) to the book, doing the exercises and adding new layers to my intuitive ability each time.

The book begins by focusing on the practice of divination, either dowsing using a pendulum or with a simple muscle testing exercise that you can perform alone. I would encourage you to pay particular attention to these grounding exercises – the discipline learned through this practice is invaluable, and it will stand you in good stead when you do move beyond this. The book’s later chapters will help you take your intuitive skills further through receiving accurate information through asking open-ended questions and communicating with your spirit guides.

As with the articles on Andrea’s blog, this book benefits from her ability to explain concepts clearly and simply, and Andrea’s down-to-earth nature and great sense of humour shine through. This is a well-written and extremely valuable book.