Why curious questions

Questions are a great reminder that someone out there is available to listen and respond to our needs. Many sponsors are eager to remind their sponsored children they are praying, but asking a sponsored child exactly what to pray for is a loving way to express your support and care. Engaging in a meaningful relationship with our sponsored children is a blessing, but building depth and intimacy requires time and intention.

Asking curious questions is just the beginning to a breadth of conversation topics and laughter. Share your favourite questions and responses with us by tagging compassionau!

Support children while they wait for a sponsor. Learn more. Try asking one of these curious questions in your next letter to spark a meaningful conversation with your sponsored child. Go beyond the typical talking points about favourite foods and colours with these seven inspiring and creative questions: 1. How do you or your family make your meals? What are your dreams and goals? What are some qualities you love about your best friend?

What would you do if you were given the opportunity to invent a new law for your country? Imposing consequences often invites rebellion and defensive thinking instead of explorative thinking. The key to helping children explore is to stop telling and to start asking curiosity questions. Too often adults tell children what happened, what caused it to happen, how the child should feel about it, what the child should learn from it, and what the child should do about it.

It is much more respectful and encouraging when we ask what happened, what the child thinks caused it, how the child feels about it, what the child has learned, what ideas the child has to solve the problem, or how the child can use what she has learned in the future. I call these typical curiosity questions because it is important not to have a script. The reason is that "Why? Think of it as objective information gathering. Journaling helps you gather actual data of your life. For example, you keep facing the same problems again and again.

Most times, we are not aware that we are in a vicious cycle, whatever it may be, so journaling helps keep us in check. There are also various apps out there that can track your habits and behaviour. All you need to do is key in the data, and the app can extrapolate the data into charts and diagrams for your reference. Your life chart, all in an app! Curiosity about oneself is about discovering who you really are, and not who you say you are.

Once you are clearer about how you feel and what you want, the next step is to start questioning your external world. You must now be curious about the problem itself. Here are some questions to start with : What is this problem really about?

What are the cause and effects? When did it start? Has it happened before? Is this a pattern? Who else has experience dealing with it? What do they do about about it?

What are the best ways for me to deal with it? The easiest and most accesible solution for problem solving is to google your questions and problems. Through google, you can find more information about how others are dealing with it, you can read books about the issue and watch videos about it.

Reddit threads give great insight! Self help books can help too. Its good to keep an open mind and be curious about other people's experiences and advice. You may never know what you may stumble upon. For example, you are self-employed and own your own business. Business is not going too well, and you feel stuck in a rut. Reading autobiographies and memoirs of successful entrepreneurs may help you gain perspective, as you will learn all the trials and tribulations they had to endure to reach their goals.

You may use their knowledge and experience to strategise your own business goals. Knowing how other people manage their hardships, whatever it may be, is a great start to getting out of your rut.

Alternatively, you can also seek therapy and reach out to your friends. By having enough data on the problem as a whole, only then you can make an informed decision on how to move forward. There is no shame in therapy or seeking professional help!

Some people have told me that this method of asking questions may not work for all, that life is not as easy as answering a series of questions and moving forward with the most logical solution. Most of the time its more complicated than that. Thats true, each challenge we face will need to be dealt with in different ways.

However, we have nothing to lose by merely asking questions and gathering information. Staying ignorant will get you nowhere. In this case, the best questions would be : Would you rather stay miserable and be a victim all your life, or would you take control and start seeking ways out of your misery? Do you really want to improve your life? Or do you want to only whine, complain about it and allow it to happen to you?

By the end of the day, it is up to you. The more questions you ask, the closer you will get to reaching whatever state you desire.