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What if..?

“What if..?” is a simple little phrase that belies its greatness. It is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to manifest the greatest joys or undermine even the most assured confidence. It all depends on how you use it.

Two benign words in their own right. Six small letters. Harmless apart, but when combined, “what” and “if” can be equally creative and destructive.

Let me explain:

“What if..?” makes the entirety of the Universe possible by accessing the most creative and infinite power of all: imagination. As a tool for exploration and innovation, these two little words open up endless possibilities. Dreams become realities.

However, “What if..?”, when used in fear or hindsight, becomes a potential harbinger of shame, blame, and despair: The “shoulda-coulda-woulda” of that which was not done or seen. It exposes its user to the insecurities harbored in the mind.

In the Universe, there is a unity and duality to everything. They are not mutually exclusive. You, yourself, are whole, and you are also comprised of both the light and the dark — yin and yang. In other words: unity and duality. Similarly, there is a duality to the phrase “What if..?”.

It may help to think of it this way: a star is simultaneously expanding and contracting. For us, the sun is a life force giving us light and warmth, helping things grow and live. And yet, it is also contracting and will eventually implode and die. As with all things, it is both living and dying. It is expanding and contracting. It contains a duality in its unity.

This phrase is the same. It is both creative and destructive. It is a singular phrase with an inherent duality.

Six letters, two words, powerful beyond measure… and what separates how they are used is you.

How it All Began

This book started as a nagging idea while I was finishing up my graduate degree in social work. As I worked with clients, I knew that I wanted to blend my certifications in Coaching and Reiki with my degree as a psychotherapist. On the one hand, I wanted to help them explore everything that’s possible — their dreams, their desires, and their hopes. On the other hand, I also wanted to assist them in unpacking and exploring their past and the reasons why they found themselves where they were when they came to me.

“What if..?” was a question that could be used in both instances, and I heard myself doing just that.

“What if you hadn’t..?”

“What if you could..?”

“What if you weren’t/didn’t or were/did..?”

As I continued using it more deliberately in client sessions, I started to really understand the power behind these two little words.

Fast-forward many months and “What if..?” started to play a bigger role in my own life — as if this book was trying to write itself (which it sort of did). Time and time again the phrase popped into my head or was somewhere in my environment. It took one last nudge for me to sit down and start typing.

I’ll always be grateful to José Stevens for that last little push to put words to paper. José is a gifted advisor and teacher, having created The Power Path School of Shamanism from years of study and experience. During our last phone conversation, José said to me:

“I want you to try something. I want you to say ‘What if..’ and then add whatever it is you can think of, beyond what you even desire.”

You know when you hear something over and over again, and although you’re hearing it you’re not actually hearing it? Then one day someone or something comes along and says it again and it’s like — Boom! — there it is in the forefront of your being?

This was it! Someone had asked me to use the tool myself. Not only was it a meaningful exercise for me, but it was the last little push I needed to finally write this book and share this powerful tool with others.

I like to think that this book was marinating somewhere until it was ready (or I was ready) to get cooking. The result is something delicious: a thought-provoking exercise in imagination and manifestation. A journey into possibility. I hope it proves equally as exciting for you as it was for me once I started employing the actual power of the phrase.

And it all begins with two little words:

What if..?