Have you ever been flummoxed by the blank page? Does it sit there with it’s blank, bland
authority saying, “Speak to me! Write
something, anything, get on with it!”
Well one way to get the ideas rolling is to ask a
question. I have been a teacher all my
life. In the classroom, there is nothing
like a question to open up the discussion.
Along with Joseph Albers, I believe that “… teaching is a matter of
asking the right questions rather than giving the right answers.” And in journaling, there are no bad answers,
just your answers. So I am, and have
always been, a collector of questions. I
need them. It’s the questions which
stimulate interesting answers. And when
the question gets asked, the answer sparks and ideas flood into the mind.
The designer Bruce Man once said, “I am interested in the
moment when two objects collide and generate a third. The third object is where the interesting
work is.” There is adventure and
discovery in the edges where things come together in questions and answers
So A Few Useful Questions to Spark Ideas
? The classic ones: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
? If you could rework yourself for one weekend,
what would you do?
? What was the most important thing you learned
in school?
? What thing of significance happened to you
this day?
? What insight educated me?
? What kindness did I find?
? What progress did I make?
? What surprised me today?
? What moved/touched me today?
? What inspired me today?
? What do I think about _____?
? Where does this come from?
? Why do _____ do that?
? How can/did this _____ happen?
? How old was I when I saw _____?
? How does a _____ work?
? Where does laughter come from?
? How did you spend your 12th/____ birthday?
? How do you play tiddly-winks?
? Where can we go for a one-day vacation?
Some Words of Encouragement:
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Let the questions tease out answers.
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Let the answers tease out new ideas.
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Follow the new ideas “at the edges."
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Be grateful for new adventures.
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Remember to laugh.
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