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Gentle Change

πŸŽ₯ A Practice for Helping Your Questions Emerge: The Wednesday 1-2-3


Hey Reader,

I'm still sending out some of my favorite editions of The Wednesday 1-2-3 while I'm taking October off from writing. A new, day-after-election edition will be coming next week! 😬

One of my favorite one-liners to go back to comes from asset-based community development:

Questions are more important than answers.

This week, I want to share a practice that invites you into becoming more acquainted with the questions you are already holding within you – whether you're aware of them or not.

But first, a word of guidance: if you're like me, when you read you may be tempted to consume the "content" and skim over any "practices" there are. That is not helpful here. If you just read the steps of this practice, it's unlikely anything of depth will pop up from within your story.

Instead, I invite you to set aside 15-20 minutes, grab some paper, and engage this questioning practice in an intentional, real way.

Here's how it works:

  1. Identify an emotion, physical sensation, inner narrative, life experience, conflict, or other topic to focus on. It can be an inner experience or something you want to process in your community/the world.
  2. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write every question you have about your chosen focus. No judgment or editing – just start and let your pen guide you. If you get stuck, return to the who, what, why, when, where, and how questions.
  3. After you have your braindump of questions, prioritize the three most potent and/or resonant questions you have. I do this by circling or drawing a star next to them.
  4. Identify supports you may need in order to engage with each question. (Supports could include people such as a friend or therapist, tools such as paper and pen, the calendaring app of your choice, etc.) Set an intention, including date and time, to sit with your questions and see what emerges.

If you want to be guided in this practice, here's a video of me leading it:

video preview​

❓ Questions

  1. What question do you feel the need to ask yourself, but would feel defensive if someone else asked you the same thing?
  2. What fears emerge at the prospect of sitting with your own questions?

🧰 Resources


Hope all is well-enough with you,

Andrew

IG: @andrewglang​

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Gentle Change

If your work involves caring for others, you know how easy it is to become overwhelmed by the needs around you. Each week, I share stories and practices on building the capacity, relationships, and habits to sustain care over the long haul.

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