Friday Space - October 30, 2020
Hey friends! Today, I want to provide you with a little space to end your week. Among many, many others, this email adds weight to your inbox on a weekly basis. Even if they’re valuable, emails often want things from us (our time, our attention, our action) and at the moment, appeasing the world outside us has never been more in demand…and less desired. So in that spirit, below is a thought prompt to write about, to think about, or to stare at with no intention or expectation whatsoever. Use it however you need it.
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Think about it
Write a list of questions to which you urgently need answers. Then, reflect: Is there a theme? Do you feel better after you wrote the list? Or worse?
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Now, respond to each: how are you going to get these answers? If/when the answer is “I can’t”, write that. It can be empowering to know there’s nothing you can do. If the answer is anything else, there’s your to-do list; attack it.
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About the prompt
This prompt is borrowed from Barbara Abercrombie’s book, Kicking in the Wall, which is a compendium of writing exercises for...writers. A small percentage of you might identify as a writer, but this specific prompt can apply to anything and anyone searching for resolution.
I’m a list maker, but I often find that the lists I make are haphazard, and don’t start with the appropriate question or issues I’m trying to solve. If you’re like me, a title might come before the point, an idea might come before the stated problem.
So, thanks to this prompt, I’ve been able to find the root causes of my daily sufferings. I’ve utilized this prompt most as a scientist of myself, posing hypotheses and then experimenting with ways to prove or disprove them.
What you actually write here is important, but it’s not nearly as important as getting in the habit of asking the right questions. Of yourself, of others, of a situation - it doesn’t matter. The starting point is the start, and if you’re starting from beyond that, you might be missing something. To find the roots of something deeply personal might be tough - whatever it is could be hiding from you - but if you ask the question enough, you’ll eventually start to propose answers to the right questions, which is leaps and bounds more beneficial than having lots of answers to questions that don’t really matter.
Thanks for reading!
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