Ask “Why” Questions
As we begin to look more deeply within our lives, we inevitably start asking important questions and seeking important answers. This process can begin somewhat inconspicuously, peering into the depths of our consciousness with child-like curiosity. When we begin this process of self examination, we often begin to find parts of our personality that serve us well, and also characteristics that do not. When unpacking our habits, we must ask ourselves why we engage in these activities or thought patterns. “Why” is perhaps the fundamental question that we wish to answer when unpacking our consciousness, as it allows us to feel the emotions that we have entangled with the activity or thought process that we are examining. By feeling the emotions that we have connected with these elements of our lives, we are able to thoroughly examine the depth of why we practice these elements within our lives.
I extend to the reader that they take this thought very literally, if only for just a few days. Take the simplest items of your day, and examine them as if you were on a desert island and the impact of your decision would be felt immediately, rather than sometime in the future. Examine your routines, your processes, and habits and decide how you feel about them. If you smoke, examine why. If you eat the same thing every day, examine why. Each small decision must be picked apart, not all at once, but over a period of days, weeks, and months. As you begin to break down your life into small manageable bits, we begin eperience internal satisfaction as our self awareness and resolve grows. I personally believe that the satisfaction derived from from this experience will drive you to fastidiously examine all parts of your life with this lens, as you become more and aware and content with the person that you are becoming within the process. Understanding the self can be a compelling super power to hold.
What I imagine is that you’ll find when teasing out bits of self awareness is that you likely won’t know all the answers to your own questions, and guess what, thats completely normal. Some of the answers you seek when on this quest will be superficial, and easy to bring to light. For many questions you ask, you’ll be able to decide on the spot, or with some amount of critical thinking if an activity or process still serves you. Others will more than likely take a significant amount of soul searching, perhaps to the likes of which many will not be comfortable with. That is to say, that within self examination there will more than likely come some level of uncomfortability. You may be able to find the answers to all of your questions, but we must remain aware of the distinct relationship between comfortability and not knowing. Ignorance can in fact be bliss within this world, but bliss never lasts forever. By becoming aware of ourselves, and our habits, we create space for ourselves to create the foundation for long term happiness and understanding within our life.
The duality of asking “Why” within our lives can perhaps be easily seen when asking the question “Why Not.” When we begin to answer the question of why not, rather than why, we begin to see that we are somewhat limitless within our potential as humans. Yes, some have genetic or epigenetic predisposition to be great within a field, but ultimately the question of why not begs us to grow, and develop into better forms of ourselves. If the goal of this process is to become the most joyous, loving, and impactful human being possible, one should recognize that just about all of us have the capacity for greatness within our own field. We all have the innate ability to better ourselves through self discipline and dedication, and when the field is our own ability to create positivity through our actions within the world, then it is only our own measuring stick that we are living up to.
