My purpose on this podcast is to remind you how to get in touch with who you really are by helping you understand why you do the things you do, both the things that serve you and the things that don't. Today's podcast is another list podcast with all of my favorite questions. Let's dive in.

Welcome to Habits On Purpose, I'm Kristi Angevine, a physician, Master Certified Coach, Internal Family Systems informed practitioner, and host of this podcast, where we explore the deeper psychology behind why we do what we do.

Hello, hello everybody. So let's start with this episode. This episode is a list of my favorite questions. If you want to hear more about the power of productive questions in contrast to asking dead-end questions, go back and listen to episode 10.

This episode is a list of very powerful questions. These questions that I'm going to share with you today, they help me tap into curiosity when I feel super bogged down, when I'm feeling really stressed, really confused, lots of indecision. They help me understand myself better.

They help move me forward when I feel stuck. They facilitate compassion and kindness when I am fully blended with my inner critic. So, without further ado, let's dive in to the questions that save me.

Here's the first one. If I trusted myself completely, what would be different?

What can I do right now to make things 10% easier? Notice with this question, I'm not asking what would make this easy. I'm giving myself a little titrated dose of what can I actually do right now to make what I'm going through a little bit easier.

Usually, when I'm going through something that's very difficult, I can't instantly go from difficult to super easy, but I can take a step towards making something slightly easier. And sometimes the answer to this question is as simple as, I'm going to get up and go for a walk, or I'm going to play some music while I do this task.

All right, the next question. What are three things my body wants today? Now, with these questions, you can insert whatever number you like. I just like three because it helps me move beyond the idea that there's one perfect answer to this question I'm asking myself. And three just is a number that works really well for my system. So, what are three things my body wants today?

Now here's a cluster of three questions that go together, and you can insert whichever person works best for you in the moment. What would I tell my ride-or-die BFF? What would I tell my husband? What would I tell my kids? These questions work really well if I am telling myself things that feel really heavy or if I'm not really sure what to do in a situation.

Next, if I knew my mental, emotional, financial, and physical well-being were guaranteed, what would I go for?

Next question. This comes straight from Byron Katie. She says, "Who would I be without this thought?" And I like to sort of mix it up a little bit and say, "Who would I be without this belief? Who would I be without this rule?"

What can I do to make it feel safe enough so that I can show up as authentically me?

Where should I say no today? Where should I say yes today?

What are three things that illustrate my resourcefulness? Or sometimes I'll mix it up and say, "What have I done that has been very resourceful?" I like this question because it helps me orient towards something that's positive, but not overly positive.

Next question. What is the lesson here? Or what can I learn from what's happening?

What else could also be true here?

How can I make this fun? How can I make this silly? How can I make this light? How can I make this funny? You can also borrow the phrasing from the second question I posed, which is, how can I make this 10% more fun? 10% lighter?

What do I need to think in order to show up how I want to show up?

What am I putting up with? What am I tolerating?

What is absolutely essential to accomplish today and what can I let go of? And then once I know the answer to that question, I like to ask, "How can I make the essential tasks inevitable and enjoyable?"

What is this emotion trying to show me? Or what does this sensation want me to know?

This next question is inspired by Internal Family Systems. And the question is, what am I worried would happen if I didn't...? What am I worried would happen if I didn't overthink? What am I concerned would happen if I didn't second-guess? Meet the deadline, go for a run, get to sleep, beat myself up. This helps me explore what the underlying concern is behind what I'm doing.

Next one. What's in the way of self-compassion and curiosity?

What do I need most right now in this moment?

And the last question, what are three things I can do right now to start to figure this out?

Now, this episode is short and sweet, but it is dense and packed with really high-yield questions. So if you ever need to jumpstart some curiosity, extricate yourself out of being stuck, find some clarity and some confusion, come back to this episode and listen to these questions. And then, just pick one. Give yourself five or 10 minutes to think on that question. Feel into the answer. Go for a walk, contemplate it. And watch as your confusion lifts, your discouragement softens, and your curiosity and clarity emerge.

So I'm curious, do you have any powerful questions that you love to ask yourself? If you do, just let me know. The way you can let me know is go to habitsonpurpose.com and join the email list. And on any email you receive, just press reply. I read every single one of your emails.

Thanks for listening to Habits On Purpose. If you want more information on Kristi Angevine or the resources from the podcast, visit HabitsOnPurpose.com. Tune in next week for another episode.