living the question…

Sometimes, life calls for a period of “living the question."

I'm reading (crying) my way through Abraham Verghese's novel The Covenant of Water. In it, a character who feels uncertain about which life path to take tells his friend that he's “living the question.” He's sitting in the uncomfortable unknown until an answer emerges. 

It's so hard to want to know WHAT to do while simultaneously NOT KNOWING what to do. 

We want to just KNOW. Should I continue down this path or go a different way? What is the answer? Why isn't it coming to me? How do I figure it out?

Living the question is one way to figure it out. 

What does it mean to live the question? First, you can accept that it's OK to not know. It's OK to not know. 

Now you've created some space to ALLOW clues to start emerging instead of trying to force an answer. 

When you're living the question, sitting in the unknown, I think you need 2 things: 1) a connection with something bigger and 2) a mindset shift. 

First, connect with something bigger than yourself. Call it God, The Universe, Source, Love, your Highest Self, Your Intuition, the Greater Consciousness. Use whatever works for you. Every time I've lost my way, it's because I've neglected this connection. 

In my experience, magic starts to happen when I invoke the help of something greater than myself and my human brain. Kismet connections. Inspiration. Synchronicities. The path starts to show itself. 

Second, you need a mindset shift. Instead of pressuring yourself to find the perfect answer yesterday, think of yourself like a scientist whose only job right now is to experiment. You're simply testing out different hypotheses. It's OK to fail. It's OK (and kinda fun) if your beaker blows up. Your experiments will give you data and feedback until you find the right formula :) 

What answer are you desperately seeking right now? For the next two weeks, what would it look like to Live in the Question?

Love, 

Jessica