100 questions.
One of the constants in my life for the past 30 years at least has been my focus on my personal, spiritual growth. I have meditated and journaled since the early 1980s. At different times in my adult life, I have worked professionally as a psychic, tarot reader, Feng Shui consultant, and a life coach.
Now that we are more than ten weeks into this quarantine situation, I have had a chance to revisit many of my spiritual practices including many that I had let fall by the wayside. One of those has been journaling.
Ever since the first few days of this isolation, I have made daily journaling in the morning a part of my practice. Obviously, I have also made this ‘end of the day’ ritual of creating this series of “sparkling isolation” posts a part of my practice as well.
Today, I found myself struggling with what I should write here. There was nothing particularly memorable about today. I slept in late, I journaled, had coffee, checked email, read, cooked, napped, and binge watched a series on Netflix. Overall, not a particularly “productive” day in the sense of quantifiable actions. But overall, it was a lovely relaxing day during which I managed to avoid getting sucked into the abyss of negativity that seems to be overtaking the world in the past few days.
I am not downplaying the importance of world events, but what I am saying is that I cannot allow myself to get dragged into drama as a result of them. I have my opinions and I have my own way of dealing with my anger and anxiety at things going on in the world. I just don’t choose to publicize those either here or in any of my social media posts.
What all the drama has led me to, however, is a resurgence of interest in my own spiritual growth. I realized this morning that last year at this exact time I was in the middle of a 10-day Vipassana mediation training. Oh, how I wish I were back there now!
In lieu of that, I decided to look through some of my resources related to spiritual growth. In doing so, I ran across a fantastic list of questions. In full disclosure, I have no clue where these originally came from. I have had them saved in a file in my Dropbox folder for almost five years now. When I typed them into a search engine, it took me to several Facebook posts by a variety of people, so I am unsure of the original source.
I decided to revisit this list, so I am dedicating time every day now to answering as many of them as possible until I catch up to my date of “sparkling isolation.” That means I have some work to do. I am leaving them here for anyone else who might want to take some time to stop, think, reframe, and refocus.
100 Questions
- Where is my heart guiding me?
- What do I need to say that others have left unspoken?
- Are there any skills or talents I’m not utilizing?
- What is my personal blind spot; what have I been unwilling to look at?
- Where have I been worrying too much about what others think?
- What new patterns and habits can I invite into my life?
- Where have I been more focused on how I look, rather than how I feel?
- What concerns am I willing to release?
- What am I committed to changing?
- What is my body craving?
- What commitments to myself can I honor?
- What new habit can I start?
- How do I want to feel?
- What signs have I been misinterpreting or ignoring?
- What lessons am I learning right now?
- Where can I surrender?
- Where can I take responsibility for my outcome?
- What challenges from my past can I celebrate overcoming?
- Where can I ask for help, and who can I let in?
- What expectations am I ready to release?
- How is life asking me to grow right now?
- How have I let fear dictate my actions?
- What can I remove from my life?
- What have I been avoiding out of fear?
- Where can I show more of my true self?
- What area of my life have I become disenchanted with, and what is that trying to tell me?
- What has my intuition been trying to tell me?
- Where do I feel broken? What steps will I take to release this internal pain?
- What am I learning on the way to reaching my goal?
- What did I love to do as a child that I can do today?
- Where have I blocked myself from feeling?
- Where have I been focusing too much on the outcome?
- Where in my life do I feel forced to take action?
- What current situation in my life have I been resisting?
- In what ways can I appreciate myself more?
- What flaw that I hide from others can I reveal?
- What long-term success am I working to create?
- What healthier habits can I start?
- What can I do with my current limitations?
- What dream have I ignored, but keeps coming back?
- What situation in my life turned out to be a giant blessing in disguise?
- Where have I been settling?
- And what actions step can I take to raise my standards?
- What is my fear trying to tell me?
- In what ways can I be kinder to myself?
- What have I given up on that still wants to be pursued?
- Where have I been forcing myself to heal faster than what feels right?
- How have I been cheating on my future by thinking thoughts of my past?
- What “flaw” can I accept today?
- Where have I been hesitating to take action?
- What has the universe been asking me to release?
- What past situation have I been romanticizing?
- How has my past hurt my ability to move forward?
54 . What plan feels forced or like it no longer fits in my life? Can I let it go? - What emotion have I been hiding?
- What are my instincts trying to tell me?
- What does my ideal life look and feel like?
- What area of my life can I take more of a leadership role in?
- Where can I be more unapologetic about what brings me joy?
- Where have I been playing it safe?
- What action step can I take despite my insecurity or lack of confidence?
- How am I standing in my own way?
- What stories am I telling myself that are holding me back?
- What do I feel most guilty about?
- When do I feel most alive?
- What have I denied myself that I really want?
- Who can I forgive?
- What relationship am I not feeling the way I want to feel in?
- What am I avoiding right now in my life?
- What have I stopped doing that I want to start again?
- What do I need to say but have not voiced?
- How do I measure my success?
- What barriers do I create that keep me from what I want?
- What in my life am I forcing?
- What have I denied myself that I really want?
- What insecurity can I love today?
- Can I consider a more fun-loving approach?
- What project can I give new life to?
- What is the silver lining of my current situation?
- What relationship can I remove myself from?
- What patterns keep repeating in my life, and what can I learn from them?
- What drama can I disengage with?
- What miracle have I recently witnessed?
- How can I be more honest with those who are close to me?
- What dream have I been ignoring?
- What recent situation do I blame myself for?
- Where can I stop second-guessing my own judgment?
- What desire do I need to revisit?
- Where have I allowed “no” to stop me?
- What act of kindness can I do right now?
- What promise can I keep to myself?
- Where can I be more courageous with my heart?
- Where can I be more understanding?
- Where has scarcity or lack-based thought prevented me from doing what I love?
- When I listen to my heart, what does it say?
- What payoff is no longer pleasing me?
- What action step can I take today that my future self will hug me for?
- What change can I make today?
- What little act of kindness can I do today?
- What new beginning am I being guided to?
It’s only Quarantine if it comes from the Quarante province of France. Otherwise, it’s just Sparkling Isolation.