04/02/2022
🤔People are often asking «why? what the point is? what is the reason of my tough situation? why did it happen to me?»
These are the most unproductive questions for self-searching however the most common.
There is no guarantee that we can find a reason at all; no guarantee that we will find a «very right», true reason. And if we could, there is no guarantee that this knowledge can help someone change their life in a willing way.
More often than not, «the reasons» of our choices and positions are caused by other people’s actions in the past, which we can’t change now.
In different psychotherapist’s traditions the question «why?» is not the best one of the possible (because of the associations from childhood with the question «why did you do that?!» and willing to be protected and make excuses) 🙅🏻♀️
But in the form «why is it significant?», this question acquires a completely different connotation.
It turns into a question about values and meanings: «Why was it so crucial to do in this way, not another?»
In this case it becomes perfectly acceptable👌
🤓Janet Conner in her book «Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within» gives us four types of non-constructive questions (for people who write the diary, ask themselves or world) and the previous is the one of them👆
❓She writes that «closed questions» (with yes/no answers) are better to ask to themselves , e.g.: «Am I ready to face the truth?» or «Do I really want to become a more empathetic, compassionate person?»
Any answer to these types of questions is an invite to dig deep.
Being addressed to the World (whatever it means) these questions are less effective for understanding our life and fortune.
💁🏻♀️One more type of questions, which Conner considers as non-constructive for self-discovering, is
the timing questions: «When smth good will happen to me or when smth bad will stop?»
More effective variant of this question is «How do I need to change / what do I need to start doing differently so I will get what I want and don’t get what I don’t want?»
☝️The last but not the least type of non-constructive questions are about other people.
When we are writing a diary, especially when the written practice becomes for us an option of spiritual practice, there is a meaning to write about yourself - your emotions, meanings, self-development. It’s not effective to write fin order to have impact on other people’s behaviour.
Others’ behaviour can change after our’s changes.
Janet Conner began to collect some effective, working, constructive questions, which we can use for self-discovering and her collection contains more than 200 questions. There are five basic categories.
1. The questions for supporting the development of awareness. E.g.:
Where do I feel that I stuck on my way / in my movement? What prevents me?
What do I need to deal with first? What kind of decisions have to be made?
What sort of conditions do I need for making the right decision?
How do I feel about what’s going on?
What do I try not to notice with hope that it will somehow disappear from my life on its own?
What do I need to do to be more at peace with myself?
Which parts of me want to be heard right now?
At what time during the day do I find myself the happiest?
What steals my energy? Where do I lose my resources ?
What do I have to learn now more than ever?
What kind of changes are coming in my life? How can I recognize them?
What is the «product/result» of my worries and anxieties? What do they bring into different areas of my life?
2. The questions for supporting the development of comprehension and meaningfulness. E.g.:
What sort of decisions brought me to this point of my life? What alternatives did I reject?
What am I doing to distract from important things?
What kind of traits and skills do I need to be more honest to myself and others?
What sort of my convictions formed the basis of this decision, this act?
What thoughts, words, and actions do I undermine my own efforts, how do I sabotage my movement towards my dreams, my desire to act in accordance with my values?
What has kept me from doing what really matters to me so far?
What is triggering automatic behaviour patterns in me that I would like to change?
What sort of tone and words do I speak with myself?
What do I do in my daily life and at work that I feel “forced” to do? How does this subjectively differ from what I really want to do?
3. The questions for contributing to deep self-understanding. E.g.:
What sides of myself I don’t want to accept? What would change if I could accept them?
Why do I hide my head in the sand like an ostrich? What life experiences am I avoiding? How much of my life do I spend «in the ostrich pose»?
What am I doing on auto-pilot, reproducing a behavioural pattern that I don't particularly like? How does this pattern of my behaviour affect the people around me?
Do I have a habitual mask - a form of self-presentation and communication? Or more than one mask?
What do I fear the most deep down in my heart?
What is my calling? What do I do in those moments when I feel like myself - in the highest and best way?
When do I feel inner wholeness?
Does my self-presentation, my external environment, reflect my inner world? To what extent, in what way?
What can I do to have more love in my life?
How can I get my power back? What will be the price of this?
What is my heart's deepest desire? How did it arise?
What question am I most afraid to answer right now?
The answer to what question am I most afraid to find out right now?
4. The questions for contributing to the vision and maturation of a preferred future. E.g.:
What prevents / forbids me to dream?
How do I recognize unusual, perhaps grandiose, but nevertheless real opportunities?
How would my life look like and feel from the inside if what I want and dream about came true?
What would I do if I had no limits at all?
What footprint would I like to leave in the world?
What can I do to make the best of the contents of my inner world manifest in the outer world?
Do I believe that I can change my life, that I can change the world in one way or another? How do I know this?
What do I need to do and how to manifest in the world that I am striving for?
5. The questions for supporting a manifestation and creation of the preferred future. E.g.:
What is the most significant right now? What do I have to ask about?
When do I need to start moving towards the desired future?
What can support me in moving towards?
What is the smallest change I’m able to do right now?
What do I have to let go, be free from so I can live the life I want?
How can I feel calmer despite the uncertainty of the future?
What is in the gap between the way things are now and the way I want? How can I overcome this gap?
What do I have to do today?