When I was ‘negotiating’ with Maha about trying myself at blogging, the timing of this unique opportunity was unfortunate. Maha was to be away in Las Vegas, and was willing to hand over to a ‘guest’ blog/neophyte at exactly the same time I myself am in the middle of doing a very big project: I am re-roofing my house, with only one other person to help [luckily, my helper has brawn and brains!]. Two other helpers who had agreed to come and help yesterday failed to show up.
The re-roofing project is awfully consuming, especially as my roof has seventeen different slopes [when one counts the dormers], two large six foot by three foot ’sky windows’ near the peak facing south[which flood inner rooms with light] plus two chimneys and eight ‘regular’ skylights. If that doesn’t seem complicated enough, I have decided to ‘curve’ all fascia board surfaces with a view to ‘wrapping’ all eave and rake edges [hoping to achieve more of a ‘cottage look’].
Today, its ok to have a bit of a break: the big truck has come with its boom arm and delivered to the roof some big piles of materials, all places made bare by removal of the old material have been tarped, and, well, it is supposed to rain and possibly even gullywash in a few hours.
So, here I sit with time to open a blog post. Problem is that I have not been able to surf the news and commentary much. Soooo, I will ask a question which I consider relevant to an individual’s life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and therefore ultimately relevant to the world we share.
The question is, “What are some important questions to ask of oneself?”
Yes, I know that most blogging is all about thoughts and opinions which sweep widely and are probably much more fun. But, in a very real way, ‘what to do about what we all care about’ comes down to actions or inactions by ‘we’ individuals. A common lament in the blogosphere is the lament of ‘what can we do’ about this or that important issue. I personally believe that if I am right with myself, I much more likely to be in harmony with my neighbors and fellow citizens. Besides, it is basic and important work to understand how to deal successfully with one’s own goals before there can be successful dealing with shared goals. I will start this off by offering a couple of what I consider ‘important questions’.
I used to try to get more familiar with my deeper values by asking the following, “I’ll pretend I am on my death bed and am looking back at my life……..what is it I wish I had done differently? Or what is it I wish I had done that I never did do?
Probably the most relevant question I have ever asked myself is this: ” What exactly do I do ‘to live with’ what is unacceptable?” In trying to answer that question, I have encountered a number of ‘coping mechanisms’ such as going numb, going dumb, diverting my attention elsewhere, ‘explaining away’ the problem, trying to force another to change, and so forth. Funny thing is, once I got the focus on me by asking that question, I found myself much less likely to ‘just live with’ whatever was unacceptable. Plus, it’s pretty basic: I only have control over myself and my own actions. I’d be beating my head against a brick wall to demand change in others, rather than explore change in myself. Confession, I was ‘head against brick wall’ for awhile yesterday when those guys failed to show!
Well, I could go on a lot about ‘what questions’, but I want to stop here. How about it? Is this topic of interest? I would love to hear from any others who want to formulate good questions for oneself.
