7 Responses to “Furthering The Search For Great Questions”

1. Terrence Seamon Says:
   July 1st, 2006 at 11:30 am

   Hi Dick.

   One question that is so common, so ordinary, that it has probably achieved cliche status, is What do I want to be when I grow up?

   This annoying question has popped up continually through my 51 years and I have a feeling it will be with me like a bad penny for the next 51 (if I live that long).

   But as annoying as it can be, it’s also like an old friend that comes and goes, in and out, of your life, popping back up when you least expect it, and despite the passage of time, you can pick up right where you left off.

   Just the other day, I was sitting in my back-yard with a nearly-50 friend who is losing her job. Sharing a bottle of Italian red wine, we found ourselves laughing, envisioning the future, and asking each other, So, What do YOU want to be when you grow up?

   Why does this question seem to have such staying power? I wonder if it’s because we never stop growing? We never finish. We are always evolving. We are like perennials in a garden, always re-blooming, coming back for a new season.

   Terry

2. Roy Blumenthal Says:
   July 2nd, 2006 at 1:04 pm

   A suite of three interconnected questions for me.

   1. What did I learn today?
   2. What did I contribute today?
   3. What did I enjoy today?

   Blue skies
   love
   Roy

3. Chloe Says:
   July 8th, 2006 at 11:11 am

   I find myself asking significant questions on a regular basis lately. The most frequent one is why? Why am I facing the challenges that consume my life right now? Why do certain people seem to glide through life while others struggle so intensely? The questions are very reminiscent of the 6 year old inside who just wants answers. The difference is now I am able to answer myself. It’s not about the why. It’s about the what. What am I taking from this experience, and what have I learned that I will be able to apply again. I believe all significant questions have true answers, as long as the person asking is courageous enough to face the outcome of them.

   Thanks for reminder that everyone has significant questions.

4. Dick Richards Says:
   July 9th, 2006 at 10:04 am

   Terry - that question is a classic, all right. I take it as a statement of someone invested in continual growth.

   Roy - your three daily questions strike me as a wonderfully simple recipe for checking in with the self.

   Chloe - Why? almost always leads me down a path of causes from the past that I cannot change. The way that you framed What? questions strikes me as more connected to the present, where I might be able to change or influence something for the better.

   Thanks for the responses!

5. biren shah Says:
   August 23rd, 2006 at 3:43 am

   Chloe - the moment i read your first line, i felt the familiar feeling of stuckness, and helplessness. and i thought: “wrong question”…
   only to find your immediate response - your ‘what’ questions. THAT, brought sense of possibility, and flow.
   so, to add to what Dick says - about ‘what’ questions bringing you to present - ‘why’ questions MAY tend to arrest the flow, and ‘what’ questions opens or brings the flow.
   thanx for sharing this as you have - it helped me see something that was alive inside, but unseen.

6. biren shah Says:
   August 23rd, 2006 at 10:17 pm

   great questions, obviously shape our lives. and questions produce movement and flow.
   going by this logic… what if our purposes were not to be ‘answers’, but rather questions?
   just a thought…

7. Dick Richards Says:
   August 24th, 2006 at 7:47 am

   Biren - and what if our purposes where questions and the search for answers, accompanied by the realization of how important it is to have our answers questioned?

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