Ikigai Part 8 - Know Yourself Better, Exercise

 

Nine Prompts for Unmasking Your True Self

I found the following questions on Facebook, and I wish I could give credit to whoever created them. However, all I have is a screenshot of the questions. 

What I noticed is how well they fit in with this quest of mine. I choose not to answer them here, but I want to include them as part of the process. I will answer them and my answers will be part of the responses coming up. As we are well past the halfway point of this journey, I will begin to head towards pulling threads together for myself. I might not answer all the questions here, but be assured - what is not answered here is definitely answered somewhere else in my world. And through it all ... I'm listening to my bum. 

The questions are as follows: 

• What are my core values and beliefs? How do they guide my decisions and actions? 
• What activities or hobbies make me lose track of time and bring me pure joy? 
• What are my strengths and unique talents? (Note: These are like what is encoded into me.) How can I leverage them in my life?
• What are my biggest fears or insecurities? How do they hold me back? 
• What are my true passions and desires? (I think included here is how I see the world and what calls to my heart.) How can I align my life with them? 
• What are recurring patterns or habits in my life? (These are not the same as routines.) Do they serve me well? Be curious about this. 
• How do I handle and cope with stress or difficult situations? What can I learn from this? 
• What kind of people or relationships energize and uplift me? What kind of people drains me? 
• How do I define success and fulfillment? Am I currently living in alignment with my definition? 

I recently attended a workshop. It was a Creative Workshop - for Creatives. Some good questions were raised that fit here, too, including ...

• How do I identify as a creative? What is my perception of my creative career? 
• How motivated am I in my creative career? (1-10) 
• What's the story that comes with that number? 
• Now, imagine the 10 version of that. What is stopped between my number and that 10? What is started? What is the result? These need to be specific, not general.
• What narrates - fear? excitement? ... step into the joy first. 
• What does "committed" look like? What behaviours can be seen? 
• What if that 10 suddenly becomes a 2 ... what if your first 10 became a launchpad and not the end point? What then ... would need to be stopped? started? and what would be the result? 
• What is the first vision ... and the next ... and the one after that? 

If you are not a creative, put whatever you are instead of that word ... this becomes a very interesting exercise about vision and direction and the gap between here and there. 

As mentioned, I will not answer these here. But I will answer them somewhere. Let me encourage you to do the same.