I just remembered this handout from years ago. I used to give this to participants in transitions retreats I used to lead. I'd hand this out and ask the women to breathe into all of these questions for a few minutes and notice which question most spoke to them. We'd then go around a circle and each woman would ask her favorite question into the Mystery living at the center of our circle, and the center of our lives.
One of the gifts of life transtions is that we get to be like adolescents again.
(Yeah, I know that doesn't feel like much of a gift ;-) ). Remember those all night dishes in high school and college where you talked with your girlfriends about The Meaning of Life? Being in big transition invites us to ask questions of ourselves and our lives we haven't had the time and inclination to ask in a loooong time.
In transition, it's NOT about knowing the answers to the questions.
We can't. The answers will come in their own time. What's important is to simply be with the questions in a soft and curious way.
ASKING THE BIG QUESTIONS
Quality questions create a quality life.
“When we ask a question as a koan, we set in motion a powerful process that changes the way we perceive everything. We widen our screen in a curious, exploratory way, not necessarily looking for answers or immediate results. What seems crucial to me is the proper framing and reframing of a question so that it excites curiosity and invites non-judgmental exploration.” --Darlene Cohen
- Who am I when I stop doing?
- How do I live divided no more?
- How do I reclaim my lost fire?
- How do I evoke the part of me that dreams and imagines beyond what is known?
- How do I open fully to what life brings me, letting it lift and carry me?
- What do I love more than I fear?
- How can I motivate myself by what I love?
- How can I create a relationship between my gifts and the community that needs them?
- Where do I take a stand? Where am I willing to risk my significance?
- Is the life I’m living the life that wants to live in me?
- How do I live in a way that brings out the best of who I am?
- How do I stay aligned with the natural rhythms that nurture my body and soul?
- What are the influences, activities, and people that cause me to shine?
- Whom do I truly love? By whom am I truly loved?
- In whom, or what, is my ultimate trust?
- What would be unlived or undone (talents, dreams, relationships, ideas) if my life ended today?
- Where do I find meaning in my life?
- What would I do if I knew you couldn’t fail?
- How may I create a life that allows for more of what I find meaningful?
- How have I harmed myself or others? How may I make amends to myself and others?
- Where have I traded aliveness for security or acceptance?
- What needs updating or release in my spiritual life?
- What stands in the way of my allowing my life to be guided by Spirit?
- What is (are) the most important thing(s) I can learn from this experience?
- What do I yearn for? What is my heart’s desire?
- What have I always dreamed of doing? Why haven’t I done it?
- What are my top priorities and values? Do I actually live by those priorities, or give them lip service?
- What am I most afraid of? What do I need to do to release these fears?
- What have I contributed to life, to others, to myself?
- From what am I running away?
- What resources do I need in order to face/heal what I am running away from?
- What stories do I tell myself about myself/life/others that make my life smaller?
- What stories do I tell myself about myself/life/others that make my heart, and my life, larger and more open to new possibilities?
- What stories could I tell myself about myself/life/others that would make my heart, and my life, larger and more open to new possibilities?
- How may I cultivate more compassion/lovingkindness towards myself? What are the courageous conversations I need to have with myself? Others? What do I need in order to have them?
- What is life trying to teach me right now?
- How may I learn to trust the Mystery of my life?
- What is the most life-giving question I could ask myself right now?
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Hi Callin,
yes, so many questions, so little time... I encourage you to simply sit with the questions, breathe into them, and notice which one calls to you from some deeper place within. Then give yourself space and time to just hang out with the question, without looking for the "right answer." Just the act of asking changes things. One of my favorite poets, Rilke, invites us to love questions, and live into answers. I couldn't say it better.
Posted by: Melissa Gayle West | 04/15/2011 at 09:53 AM
So many questions! They're all taking up residence in my head at once. What to do?
Posted by: Callin | 04/15/2011 at 09:22 AM