Rob Tourtelot
@rtourtelot
Rob Tourtelot
Big questions interrupt the daily routines people fall into and prompt them to step back and see their life from a distance. Here are some of my favorite questions that do that: “What crossroads are you at?” At any moment, most of us are in the middle of some transition. The question helps people focus on theirs. “What would you do if you weren’t
... See moreDavid Brooks • How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
“A little secret:
You don't need the right answer to start. You can start by asking a question. Simply asking, “How can I be a better friend?” or “How can I be a healthy person?” will call forth answers naturally.
In the beginning, just repeating the question is enough.”
You don't need the right answer to start. You can start by asking a question. Simply asking, “How can I be a better friend?” or “How can I be a healthy person?” will call forth answers naturally.
In the beginning, just repeating the question is enough.”
James Clear • 3 Ideas, 2 Quotes, 1 Question (December 26, 2019) | James Clear
From there, I have a few go-to questions that I have found create reliably engaging discourse:
• What's your connection to [insert current place or event]?
• What are you most excited about currently?
• What's lighting you up outside of work?
• What’s your favorite book you’ve read recently?
Note: Always avoid "What do you do?" as a question. It's
... See more. I wince now at the words I said in the past to grieving friends. "Find peace in your memories," I used to say. To have love snatched from you, especially unexpectedly, and then to be told to turn to memories. Rather than succor, my memories bring eloquent stabs of pain that say, "This is what you will never again have."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • Notes on Grief
In 1817, the poet John Keats wrote a letter to his brothers to share this exciting realization. “At once it struck me,” Keats wrote, “what quality went to form a Man of Achievement … Negative Capability.” Keats explains that “Negative Capability” is “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching... See more
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or... See more
No Part Of Yourself Is Unworthy.
Again, Dzogchen posits that the state beyond suffering is not something apart from us to be attained, but rather the enduring condition of our own being, obscured by investment in the subject-object mode of perception and the resultant attempts to manipulate experience. As an expression of this view, its contemplative practices emphasize
... See moreYou’re right that profound grief quickly pushes you away from both certitude and indifference, which are unproductive feelings—
That’s right. Certitude and indifference. They’re the problems with this world.
That’s right. Certitude and indifference. They’re the problems with this world.