Questions to Ponder

In line with my blog's intentions, I hope to give open individuals a new perspective on how they choose to live their lives. I see personal development, internally or socially, as a foundation to happier living. Here are some simple, yet thought-provoking questions from Human Synergistics International:

Openness to Experience

How recently have you..

• changed your views on an important issue (political, personal, professional)?
• tried a new sport, hobby, or taken a course in a new field?
• paid attention to your body’s feelings and senses?
• listened to a religious, political, professional, or personal viewpoint with which you disagreed?
• tasted a new food, smelled a new odour, listened to a new sound?
• allowed yourself to cry or to say “I care about you” or laugh until you cried or
to scream at the top of your lungs or to admit you were afraid ?
• travelled to a place you have never been before?
• made a new friend or cultivated an old friendship?
• spent an hour or more really communicating (actively listening and responding honestly) with a person of a different cultural or racial background?

Existential Living

How recently have you...

• done something you felt like doing at that moment without regard for the
consequences?
• stopped to “listen” to what was going on inside you?
• spontaneously expressed a feeling — anger, joy, fear, sadness, caring —
without “thinking” about it?
• done what you wanted to do, instead of what you thought you “should” do?
• allowed yourself to spend time or money on an immediate “payoff” rather than
saving for tomorrow?
• done something no one (including you) expected you to do?

Trust in One Own's Organism

How recently have you...

• done what felt right to you against the advice of others?
• allowed yourself to experiment creatively with new approaches to old
problems?
• expressed an unpopular opinion assertively in the face of majority opposition?
• used your own intellectual reasoning ability to work out a solution to a difficult
problem?
• made a decision and acted upon it right away?
• acknowledged by your actions that you can direct your own life?
• cared enough about yourself to get a physical examination (within a year)?
• told others of your religious faith or philosophy of life?
• asserted your feelings when you were treated unfairly?
• risked sharing your personal feelings with another person?
• admitted you were wrong?

So do not just read with hmms and ahhs. Take it to action.