“Ask a better question, receive a better answer” — Anonymous
My favorite game to play is, ‘how can I be more curious?’.
It’s a game I play when I am in conversation with anyone, including myself. Yes, I talk to myself. Daily. It’s most often great conversation. Give it a try, you might like it.
But I digress. This is a game that I wish I started back in my teens, because there’s a good chance I would be a master at it by now. But that’s neither here nor there.
The purpose of the game is to take time to consider what questions I am not asking that I could be. To take time and understand the question behind the question asked of me. And to see what questions I’m answering unbeknownst to me.
There’s a lot to this, and I could write on it for awhile. But, I’ll keep this brief. We live and create our lives through endless questions and answers. Whether we are aware of it or not, that’s how we operate.
From the time we wake up until we go to sleep, we are asking and answering questions, both spoken and in thought. From this, our life as we know it comes to be.
If I am unaware of the real question I am asking and asked, the answers and subsequent experience may not be ideal. Ideal in the sense that there seems to be something missing. Or, the desired change or experience did not come to fruition.
Signs that different questions may be useful:
1. You have a repeated experience where nothing seems to change
2. Someone important to you feels unheard or misunderstood
3. You believe that something is missing from your life
4. What you are creating versus what you want differ
When we come from a better question new ideas and experiences have the space to emerge. From deeper curiosity, what will emerge are stronger relationships with ourselves and others.
As you go through your day, I invite you to take pause and consider the following:
What is the primary question steering your day?
What feels amiss in your conversations with others?
What are you currently challenged with changing?
If you are willing to consider this, take it a step further and ask what questions could be more useful for you.
Stay curious.
