questions, 2010

Are you physically fit? Healthy? Are your eyes, teeth, heart, back, knees, ears in good shape? How would it feel if you lost the function of any of them? Do you savour the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat?

Are you satisfied with your intellectual ability? Do you have a sense of what is going on in the world around you? Are you capable of making logical decisions? Are you aware of our history, of the magnitude of the universe and the limitations of human knowledge?

Do you have a well developed skill, a passion, a form of self-expression? Perhaps you sing, or dance, or draw, or write?

Do you have role models? Who are they? What is it that you admire about them? What’s the difference between them and you?

Do you have healthy fulfilling relationships with your friends and family?

Do you enjoy your work?

Are you respected by the people that you respect?

Do you smile? Do you treat everyone with kindness? Do you dispose of your litter, put away your trays? Do you thank people enough?

Do you share your knowledge, information or expertise with people who need it?

What are your most prized possessions? What would happen if you were to lose them? Why? Have you given away something of important or of value to you?

Have you scrutinized and criticized yourself the way you do others? Are you aware of the lies you tell yourself everyday?

Do you take the time and effort to ensure that the manner in which you say and do things is as important and meaningful (if not more) than what is actually said and done?

Have you spent time and energy seriously pursuing and appreciating perspectives divergent from and conflicting with your own?

Are you financially independent? Have you repaid your debts- financial or otherwise?
Have you forgiven those who have hurt and exploited you?

Do you appreciate how fleeting life is, and how precious?

Do you have any unfulfilled promises to make good on?

Have you put the needs of others before your own?

Do you know what it is like to be a part of something greater than yourself?

Have you objectively evaluated the effectiveness of your decision-making framework?

How do you decide whether something is right or wrong?

What are you like when nobody’s watching?

What’s the ugliest side of your character or identity that you disapprove of, or are disgusted with?

Do you appreciate the intrinsic value of hard work?

What were the happiest moments in your life so far, and how much of it was genuinely a consequence of your own personal effort?

What are you personally knowledgeable about? How useful is this knowledge to you and to others? Are you satisfied with it?

Do you make a serious effort to understand other people, their motivations, passions, ideas?

Are you aware of how much of your identity is determined by your environment, and consequently, how much everyone else is determined by theirs?

Do you listen- really listen- to what other people have to say, while suspending judgement, withholding the impulse to be offended or to correct them?

Do you appreciate that you are, in certain respects, a medium, a vehicle for things greater than yourself?

Do you spend time and energy reflecting about yourself, your experiences, your emotions, your choices, your responses? Are you proud of yourself? Could you do better?

If you were trapped and waiting to die, what would you think of? What would you wish you could do?

How would you behave if you were bestowed money, authority and influence?

Do you read?

Are you able to rise above petty arguments and the need to always be right? Are you able to tolerate and outlast misunderstandings?

Can you resolve your own conflicts, be they internal or external? (Evasion, avoidance and distraction do not count as resolution.)

Why do people associate with you? What is your value to others? What kind of people do you draw to yourself, and why? Are you proud of it?

How much do you truly value fulfillment, and how much effort are you willing to put to pursue it?

Are you ready to die?

After asking yourself all these questions- are you satisfied with your own answers? What are you going to do about it?