Musings 
No Comments What If It Wasn’t?
I was sitting on the carpeted floor of a small conference room with fifty other participants, being coached by Tony Robbins.
Tony was teaching one of his core principles: see reality as it is — not worse than it is.
He asked us to think of a personal goal, and the obstacle that seemed to stand between us and it. The instruction was simple. Name the obstacle clearly. Then, in a strong state — with real intention and energy — declare: “What if it wasn’t?”
He paired us off. One partner, “A,” would describe a goal and its obstacle. The other, “B,” would just listen — no fixing, no advice. Then we’d switch.
I was “A.” Kneeling on the floor, telling my story, my leg fell asleep. I said so out loud, annoyed at the interruption.
My partner had been listening closely. She looked me in the eye and asked:
“What if it wasn’t?”
My leg wasn’t asleep anymore.
No lightning, no voice from the sky — just a body doing, instantly, what a mind had just been told to expect. We sat there a second, stunned. Then we started talking fast: what did that mean, what else could it apply to, why did it work.
I’ve gone back to that moment many times since. When an obstacle looks solid and fixed — a stalled project, a diagnosis, a door that seems closed — I name it clearly, and then, with the same intention, ask myself and whatever is listening: “What if it wasn’t?” The obstacle doesn’t always dissolve. But it stops being a wall and becomes a question — and a question is a very different thing to stand in front of than a wall. More than once, that shift alone has been enough to find a way through I couldn’t see a moment before.
My partner that day — the one who asked the question — was Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher).
Sometimes, without warning, the universe hands you a gift to guide the rest of your journey.
