21 Questions To Be Your Own Life Coach: Thought Provoking Questions To Explore & Heal
Questions are the answers, there is no one out there that knows what is best for you but yourself. (A revisit from February; How are you since then)
The unexamined life is not worth living.
-Socrates
What if nothing has gone wrong?
Often times we assume that there is always something wrong. This is the immediate tendency of the mind; “to predict and protect”. This powerful question invites us to see that there is nothing really wrong with anything ever. What is wrong most of the time is our interpretation of things. If you think there is something wrong, your work is not done.
Why do you think it's not working?
This question helps us to take a step back. To really get to the core and unpack our patterns our patterns bring us certain results in asking this question, we can shine a light on limiting beliefs that may be blocking us unconsciously.
Why do you think it Is working?
This question clarifies our core beliefs and values. It makes us dive deep into our innermost self. It helps us become more aware of what is truly important to us. Where we are going and what adjustments are necessary.
What do you think is standing in the way of your goals?
Blocks and barriers are often times self imposed and voluntarily made. In becoming aware of where we are going, and what is blocking us, closing the gap between your present self and your future will be smooth.
Who would you be without that thought?
My favorite one by Byron Katie. This question automatically Raises you up from the thinking mind to the aware mind.asking this question provokes us to imagine other realities apart from what is trapping us in an endless loop. Because whatever negative feeling you are engaged in right this moment is not all that there is. There are also realities that you are not negative, that you were strong, capable, enduring, and joyful.
What are the top 3 emotions you have felt this week?
It doesn’t need to be drastic, heavy emotion, or a grandiose elating moment. To just be able to name and identify emotions makes us automatically aware that we are not those. It then frees you energetically with a lot of time and possibilities. Know that your emotions are just energies brought about by your thinking and believing. Lean towards emotions that nourish and serve your highest purpose.
What is an emotion that you love to experience?
What we focus on expands and becomes our world. Intentionally bringing our attention to the emotions that we love fortifies the pathways towards achieving them more easily. Practice the emotions that bring you closer to your highest self. Supportive, compassionate and open emotions set our nervous system up for healing. Surrender is the fastest way to feel whole.
Tell me about an emotion you do not like to feel?
To be equal minded when it comes to emotions that we do not like. Suppressing, avoiding and running away through distraction and not facing what needs to be faced will keep us in the same pattern that will give us the same results. Do not be afraid of your negative emotions. Allow your emotions to be fully felt by the body, not just to ruminate in the mind.
Chronic, unrecognized anger and resentment reemerge in our life as depression, which is anger directed against oneself. If pushed further into the unconscious, it can re-emerge as psychosomatic illnesses. Migraine headaches, arthritis, and hypertension are frequently cited examples of chronic suppressed anger.
David R. Hawkins, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
What are the things that are working?
What has been working? What habits have you developed recently that aligns you towards your fullness. Acknowledge small wins. Align ourselves with what is integrous, lean in towards what is serving and nourishing to you in each and every moment. Always keep in mind the ideal self and scenarios and engage in practices that increases the living ness in you. Stay aligned and committed to integrity and truth.
What would the best case scenario look like?
This primes the mind and helps us paint the picture in our imagination. It is always an image in the mind first before it manifests in our physical world. So become the creator of your world by envisioning the best case scenario. Live in the positive expectancy of the good. We can always train ourselves to be more optimistic. Through choice and practice we can always see the good in everything.
What would you consider a win?
Wins don’t need to be grand and trophy worthy. It can be the fact that you feel good about yourself right this second. To be ok with what is, where we are and where we are going. To be alive and to keep your day to day in order is already a win. Stack on the little things, the beauty of your journey, the uniqueness of your gradual becoming, so add up your small wins, build your confidence and commitment to the highest version of yourself.
Why do you want to hit this goal?
Going back yo your mission vision, your why. Knowing and trusting your purpose provides us access to unlimited wellspring of energy. Devote thyself to things that are bigger than self centered motivations.
“The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.” – William James
How does believing in yourself impact the quality of your day?
We always find what we are looking for. We have to believe in ourselves first before anybody else can. Imagine days in the past where you have believed in yourself.
Leave no space for doubts and fears and fill your cup with overflowing faith, belief and trust. We are accountable for the quality of our time here on our beautiful planet.
Belief in oneself and knowing who you are, I mean, that's the foundation for everything great.
Jay-Z
How will your life (body, mental wellbeing, relationships) be different when you achieve this?
What is important to you today? What needs to be done for you to consider today a success? How does your life look like if you took responsibility for this one thing? Taking responsibility in designing and creating and devoting what needs to happen in your hours/days/weeks/months/quarters/years is up to each and every one of us.
Who do you have to become to make success inevitable?
What type of person do you need to be in order to close the gap between your desire and your present state? Our nature is to evolve, learn and grow.
Never hesitate if a hunch is felt and a whisper from eternity is heard. Build the type of person you need to become and only you know the type of person you need to be.
What does success mean to you? Remember that it does not always come in material form. Success can be measured by the way we feel.
There is no desire that anyone holds for any other reason than that they believe they will feel better in the achievement of it. Whether it is a material object, a physical state of being, a relationship, a condition, or a circumstance - at the heart of every desire is the desire to feel good. And so, the standard of success in life is not the things or the money - the standard of success is absolutely the amount of joy you feel.
Esther Hicks, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
How do you think you can find the answer to this?
Often times we are stuck by self imposed limits. If we make time to ask and unpack, things get clearer and answers reveal themselves. Your answers can be found by sitting still and keeping an open mind. Looking in the right direction and keeping a mind eager to learn and grow.
Try looking at places you’ve never looked, try going to places you used to avoid. Answers are here if we ask again and again.
Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it.
J.D. Stroube
What are all of the options? Let's brainstorm at least 10
There will always be another way to achieve what we are going for. Remember that it is the feeling that counts rather than the thing. If a path doesn’t seem to be beneficial to the highest good, take a step back and consider 10 more options. It’s like cooking potatoes, there are countless ways but you’ll get the same result of a joyful nourishing meal.
Panic causes tunnel vision. Calm acceptance of danger allows us to more easily assess the situation and see the options.
What if you're wrong?
Our ego which is a part of ourselves, is so afraid to be wrong that tries so hard to live in limitations of its own making. Being ok with being wrong expands our understanding and opens us up for possibilities beyond our present beliefs.
We are always expanding, shedding and learning. The idiot is the precursor to the savior. Being wrong only reveals the path we need to take. Try practicing The joy of being wrong.
To make mistakes or be wrong is human. To admit those mistakes shows you have the ability to learn, and are growing wiser.
Donald L. Hicks, Look into the stillness
How can you make this simple?
We can always simplify by letting go of things that aren’t essential. Check out this piece on Essentialism.
Sometimes subtracting is more helpful than adding. Get to the heart of the matter by boiling it down its simplest form.
Make time to simplify by letting go of things that occupies your time and mind to open up space for what truly matters. Sometimes we just need to truly live just by sitting and breathing deeply.
“It is the essence of genius to make use of the simplest ideas.”
- Charles Péguy
What are these thoughts/feelings protecting you from?
Get to know yourself even more deeply by questioning your thoughts and feelings. Most times we protect ourselves from embarrassment and failure, this wall prevents us from the learning that is needed to proceed towards the next level. Identify what you are protecting yourself from and challenge them by exposing yourself to them.
What discomfort are you avoiding if you continue to believe this?
If we continue to engage ourselves with the same pattern, we will get the same results. Go beyond the discomfort, get to the other side of fear. Voluntarily go through the discomfort of the thing you are avoiding and watch your paradigm shift. Watch yourself grow and evolve beyond what you think you are.
Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.
Tony Robbins
Mindfulness in the kitchen
This loaf pan lasagne uses tofu as noodles, thinly sliced baby bella mushrooms, cashew bechamel and marinara are layered then topped with vegan Parmesan. Baked and broiled to perfection for that crusty top.
Will post the recipe 👉 here.
Also did a collection of vegan spots from my favorite cities! Travel is a good way to renew yourself and get perspective, hitting some vegan spots along the way.
Vegan Bacon wrapped tofu on a bed of quinoa salad. Here’s how to have a balanced diet using vegan ingredients! There has been a lot of tofu in kitchen lately. Get creative with cooking tofu and try out these wonderful TOFU RECIPES ideas as a doorway towards your own creativity!
You can sauté some mushrooms with garlic & onions, toss it with crumbles of tofu scramble along with micro-greens and quinoa. Dress it up with balsamic, sesame oil and soy for that Asian flair. Oh I added a ton of hempseeds here too.
What dish are you looking forward to create?
Shout out to El Churri for this heart shaped beauty.
This is my first snowman, ⛄️ his smile will remain eternal even though he knows he will melt eventually. He knows of impermanence, non attachment and letting go because he is subscribed and an avid reader of this publication. 👇👇👇
From our fave vegan spot in New Paltz ❤️
This 1 minute practice will detach you from your entangled thoughts
In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for example: ²This thought about _________ does not mean anything.
³It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on]. (ACIM, W-4.4:1-3)
Seeing the Carlyle on Netflix made us pay a visit and explore 🌹
Bemelmans Bar art on the wall by Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the book series Madeline 👇
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
Thomas Carlyle
That’s it for Today!
Hope you are having a beautiful morning and looking forward to more explorations with you!
You are great and you are a container of the infinite.
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Another wonderful post.
I want the recipe for the lasagna. (I don't eat soy so I would use a brown rice or chick pea noodle.) It wasn't on the list.
Thx for this Substack.
What a gorgeous post!