Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
I’m amazed by things big (like the universe) and small (like an heirloom seed). One is 13.8 billion years old and dying very slowly. The other is sitting in dormancy until the right conditions allow it to give birth to another version of itself.
What amazes you? All answers — grandiose and / or commonplace — are welcomed.
Related questions: How can we maintain wonder? What is important? Why do we like what we like? Why are things amazing?
During this time of year, it is common to take stock of your life and think about things for which you are grateful.
But what exactly does this entail? Is being thankful a state of mind, or does there need to be a public display? Are there any actions or behaviors that are associated with thankfulness? If not, what is the difference between being thankful and doing nothing?
What does it mean to be thankful?
Related questions: How does appreciation enrich the individual? How can we turn ideas into actions? How are gratitude and happiness related? What do we have in common?
You need a certain amount of confidence to do anything that involves some risk, like speaking in public, starting a business, righting a wrong, or standing up for yourself or for others. Why will your book, or blog, or podcast, or request for a raise, succeed? You need to have confidence that what you are doing is worthwhile.
Often, perhaps too often, lacking confidence in our ideas or our talents prevents us from taking risks, and while that might keep us from failing it also keeps us from stretching and doing something worthwhile.
How can we get past this? How can we build confidence?
Related questions: How do you define success? When is it useful to fail? Why do we care what strangers think of us? Why do we put up with unhappiness?
Our doubts can range from healthy skepticism to unhealthy paralysis. Everything from questioning someone’s intentions to doubting our faith (or lack of it) can be beneficial or crisis-inducing.
When is doubt helpful? Or, more specifically, how do you know when it’s good to listen to that inner voice of doubt?
Related questions: What do you do that you shouldn’t? When is it useful to fail? What is necessary to change your mind? How important is intuition?
When you move to a new place, it can feel like you are trespassing in a place you don’t belong. But after awhile, the new location may start to feel like home.
Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What makes a place feel like home?’ We also discuss another question as well, ‘What beliefs do you have that might be wrong?’
What’s the difference? What turns a location from a place to spend the night into a home? What thoughts, good or bad, go through your mind when you hear the word ‘home’? What can you do to make a place feel like home when it doesn’t?
What makes a place feel like home?
Related questions: How does your vocabulary influence how you think? Why do we feel the need to belong? What is your retreat from the world?