It’s easy to assume we’re asking the same question because we’re using similar words and facing similar issues. Yet, if we listen more closely, we may notice the difference. Nuances that indicate we may not be asking the same thing. Take the simple ‘How do we get from A to B?’ I can think of … Read more
Asking questions isn’t a luxury. Yet we think it is. We act like it’s something we haven’t planned for. It sits outside of the spec… Yet, if we are curious about the real nature of things, we must be open to further probing. Asking questions even if they feel naïve. If we don’t, and we … Read more
Walking down the lane, I heard an unfamiliar bird song. It prompted this reflection… I may need to reset my tuning… Or even beyond that, do I need to be more open to the questions themselves? Because none of us can hear everything, we would drown. Instead, there are some things that we need to … Read more
Who are you becoming? And what questions are accompanying you? As you look back, what little provocations or deeper probings seem to surface with regularity? Those that won’t let you go and miss who you are to become. I suspect we know them by name or at least recognise their shadow. So why not embrace … Read more
I’m sitting in the doorway of the old cabin, waiting for the felting machine to finish its cycle. This is a good place to stop. To pause and sit with the unknowing. Not trying to answer all the big questions like why children die, how we can stop injustice, or what we must do to … Read more
When did you last experience a question that stopped you in your tracks? It probably landed somewhere on the spectrum between ‘Wow: what a brilliant question – just what I needed’ and ‘Ouch: that’s uncomfortably close – I feel exposed’. And it’s not just about big questions either. Little, unseemingly inconsequential nudges can also land … Read more
CHOOSING TO STAND Where am I standing What am I standing on Who am I standing with Here Where is the love I am standing on What is the truth I am standing with Who are the people I am part of Today On the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. ~ Inspired by … Read more
Over the summer, I worked with the idea of beautiful questions. As I developed one of my own, eventually it distilled as ‘I am water, where shall I flow?’ But what kind of question is that? Yes, it can feel rather esoteric, yet it has become a powerful metaphor for me – a kind of … Read more
Questions can be uncomfortable. They sit at the intersection of the known and the unknown and make us feel vulnerable. Yet if we can exchange the confidence of certainty for the curiosity of possibility, then perhaps we have a future. Not just a gilded past. Or as Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote to a young … Read more
Recently I joined a webinar with Michael Bungay Stanier (MBS to his friends) on the one question that unlocks everything. What was it? “If I say YES to this, what must I say NO to?” MBS has an extraordinary skill in capturing crucial ideas so simply that you can’t ignore them. This phrase has deeply … Read more