photo from Andrea Piacquadio- on Pexels
Happy Sunday Dancers,
In today’s newsletter we’ll cover:
Why you should never stop asking questions
What open-ended questions are
How you can start “living the questions”
Sometimes it feels like I’ve figured it out.
I got answers to long-asked questions.
It’s a moment of enlightenment, a moment of relief.
Once I’ve mastered one thing the next step wants to be mastered.
And now again, I have questions over questions and no solution is in sight.
It never seems to end.
I don’t know everything, in fact, I know very little about life.
I’m okay with it.
At some point, you understand that unanswered questions and problems are part of life.
You have two options:
Fall for the frustration that you always have uncertainty in your life,
or see your life as an inquiry, and asking questions will bring you closer to your goals.
Adopt the mindset of a curious person and a researcher.
BE A STUDENT FOR LIFE.
Living the questions
I’m currently reading a book about manifesting and attracting the right partner into your life. It’s called “Calling in the One” by Katherine Woodward Thomas.
The Dancer’s Way is not about love, but Katherine gives practical tips that can be adapted to a dancer's life.
I’d like to tell you a bit about her idea of “living the questions”.
“You must be more interested in finding really great questions than you are in getting correct answers.” (Woodward Thomas, Katherine. 2021)
I think this is a perfect reminder for all of us dancers.
There are so many things in our artistic lives that we don’t have answers to.
There is no book written about certain topics. Every dancer deals with things differently.
It’s not black and white. It’s a gray area with looooots of unanswered questions.
Let go of the fear that you might ask the wrong questions. There’s literally no wrong question to ask. Do your future self a favor and never stop finding creative solutions.
Ask yourself questions.
Ask others questions.
It’s the only way to grow.
But what questions should you ask?
Ask open questions
Using the tool of asking questions only works if you ask the right questions.
As an example:
I have phases in my life where my dance career seems to stagnate. There might be for example no new job opportunities in sight. It feels like I’m running against a wall and the wall just doesn’t want to break.
I have again two options here:
Either give in to frustration
or find actionable solutions to move forward.
A tool that comes in handy is called “open questions”.
Open questions are questions that can not only be answered with yes or no. They help you to start the inquiry and to find new ways out of the rut.
Examples of open questions
Here are a few open-ended questions I’d ask myself to get unstuck. I do this process in my head or I write it down in my journal. The benefit of writing it down is that you can organise your ideas visually and it can help you to clear the brain fog.
What steps do I need to take to get new job opportunities?
What’s holding me back from doing the first step?
How can I get over the fear of being rejected or to fail?
What would happen if I'd trusted my abilities as a performer and acted from a place of self-trust?
The last time things worked out well for me, what did I do then that I can reproduce now?
You see I ask myself questions that evoke action.
My inquiry helps me to identify what helps me and what’s needed in the current moment. You will see that approaching challenging tasks this way will open up a whole new world for you. I personally rely on this method because I know that it’s good guidance.
If you don’t have the answers within yourself, find someone that’s willing to answer your questions.
And how do I know if I asked the right questions?
You know that you’ve asked the right questions when…
… the answer lifts up your mood
… the answer inspires you to act
… you see your situation from a different, more helpful angle.
… you get creative ideas at night.
Your weekly prompts for reflection
Here are a few open ended-questions you can use for your own reflection:
What would change in my life as a dancer if I’d…
How would it feel if I would permit myself to…
What could I do to make… happen?
By when do I want to have/be/become…
What would… require of me today?
What do the answers do with you? what do you feel? What will you do with this information?
That’s it from this week’s newsletter. See you next Sunday :)
keep on moving,
Barbara from The Dancer’s Way
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