Here are even more questions you can ask of yourself…
This is the third article in this series, and No feedback, so far, so I assume you just read the questions and answered the way you answer everything, without looking…
- Do I listen to others?
- What do they have to say about that?
- Am I listening to how what they say fit?
- Am I listening to what they are up to this time?
- Am I listening if I agree or not?
- Am I really listening or just waiting for them to finish so I can speak?
- Do I only talk to people to give them a piece of my mind or to tell them what to do? If so, do I listen for the echo while I talk to them?
- Do I know if what I said was heard or not?
- Do I pray only when I want something?
- Do I see people only when I need or want something?
- Do I think only of myself?
- Do I think of prayer as a food order at McDonald’s?
- Do I procrastinate? Or just putting off things?
- Do things pile up around me? Dreams, plans, aspirations… in a pile of broken dreams?
Do I read enough? Other than the sports papers. Other than the gossip papers. Other than other people’s blogs.- Do I ever finish a book? Or do I have piles of books… that I had no patience to read till the end of the book?
- Do I smile more than I frown? It’s not your fault, you say? Is the world a nasty place and unless you frown it may get worse?
- Are you one of those people that make sure the world knows that it could be better? … if nothing else, by frowning…
- Do I spend too much time with my family?
- Do I have a life independent of my family?
- Do I have an identity, a personality, an aspiration for my own life, for my own growth, for my own relationship with life?
- Do I stand up for myself? Or do I allow other people to walk all over me?
- Do I choose where to eat, what to eat, or do I follow other people’s lead slavishly?
- Do I behave as if I were as important, as valid as other people, or do I act out a script that says I am less than and then sulk?
- Do I surround myself with good people? Or am I looking for people that will look up to me, so I don’t have to get bigger? Smarter? More educated? Better?
- Do I take risks? Or am I walking in the middle of the road, always the same thing… that after I die people will say: here goes someone who didn’t make waves and didn’t live… not really…
- Do I take time for myself? Or am I the last person I will take time for? Is that because if I took time for myself then I would have to, maybe, produce something or make something of myself?
- Do I thank people enough? Or do I only notice what I do for people?
- Do I consider that my contribution is more important than theirs? That they owe me but I don’t owe them?
- Am I afraid to thank they because then they would know that I have noticed what they have given me, and now it’s my turn to do or give something?
- Do I utilize my talents? Or making a living, fitting in, spending time with people is more important that becoming the person I was meant to be?
- Do I work hard?
- Do I work towards what I want, or do I work as a duty, having to, needing to, and should work? Like a slave? Like a victim?
- Does everything happen for a reason? If it does, do I look if I am punished, if I am rewarded, or if I am guided? Or as a victim?
- Have I hurt others? am I TOTALLY justified because they hurt me, or someone hurt me, and I am passing it on? Have I apologized? Did I mean it, or it was just a payment so I can hurt them again?
- Have I seen enough of the world? or am I a country bumpkin, totally unaware about the richness of the world, the many cultures different from mine, the different thinking, different way to spend the time, different ways to bring up children, the different values other cultures have?
- Have I seized opportunities? If yes, how many percentage of the opportunities? And how many did I miss?
- Am I moving forward in life, or have I been stagnating, maybe even slipping down?
- Have I settled for mediocrity? for fitting it? for not rocking the boat? for nearly alive?
- Do I have many fears?
- Have I ever thought how can I conquer that fear, or do I prefer to hide, avoid, stop breathing? Stop exposing myself?
- Is there an afterlife? Have I been using the idea to justify my miserable lifestyle?
Yes Ronda, do that.
Some of the questions showed me a glimpse of the hold my precious “I” has and made me squirm. I think my reactions means I need to pay more attention and ask more questions.