Are You Still Asking Questions?

There are some questions that are safe and simple. "What will I eat for breakfast? "What route will I take to work, school or the gym?" "How will I plan my day today?"

Maybe it's not that we completely stop asking more difficult and challenging questions about life, culture, worldview, meaning and significance. But maybe we've acquiesced to someone else providing the answers. After all there is no shortage of people - most well -intended - who want to be helpful, answer our questions with certainty...and make sure we're doing the "right" thing.

And we really do want answers. We want answers to questions related to...

• work and career

• direction and vision

• time and resources

• relationships and sexuality

• purpose and meaning

• God and faith

• politics

• people who are "different" than we are

• personal talents and skills

About which of the above have you stopped asking questions? Just stopped. Look over each area listed and ask: "How did I come to think about this the way I do?" "Who influenced my thinking?" "What have I not given myself permission to ask?"

Certainly we'll share opinions and thoughts with others, but sometimes it's simply easy to quickly and innocently adopt someone else's behavior, life perspective, worldview or career path. And when we embrace someone else's thinking, plan, belief or lifestyle we stop thinking for ourselves. And when we stop thinking, we stop asking questions. Unfortunately, when we stop asking questions, we risk living someone else's life and we stop growing.

What if you asked questions about:

• Your current job/career?

  • How did I get here?

  • Is it fulfilling and meaningful?

  • Do I believe in what I'm doing?

  • How can I improve my impact on the organization and the people around me?

• What you believe regarding faith, science and culture (regardless of your religious/spiritual journey)?

  • When did I last ask questions that "faith" says I should leave alone and not doubt?

  • What experiences have I had that raised questions I never allowed myself to explore?

• People who are different?

  • What can I learn from spending time with someone who has "less" than me?

  • What if I listened - without judgement - to someone's story of heartbreak and devastating life choices?

  • How might I find goodness in and from someone whose faith, values, sexuality, politics or worldview is different than my own?

• Direction and vision?

  • Is my plan for life actually my plan?

  • Do I know how to get where I want to go?

  • Am I uncertain or confused about what life looks like in 2, 5 or 20 years?

  • What questions do I need to ask because I don't know what I don't know?

What questions are you asking as you move into 2020?