Winter break in Minnesota has moved to a new level as we rung in 2014. No only is it colder than its been in decades, the break from school has been longer due to mandated cancellations by the governor, a right granted to him by the Minnesota legislature. So cloistered in with my family I 've had ample time to knit, bake, read, think, and write. I even took a stab at whimsically posting random thoughts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, none of which come naturally to me.
On one such posting I mentioned that I was thinking about my essential question for 2014. A fellow AIW and good friend picked up on my post and asked if I would share. So in the spirit of sharing, which AIW work is all about, here is a stab at elaborated communication about this eccentric past time of mine. Enjoy!
Every year I craft an essential question for myself that I explore through fiction, nonfiction, film, essay, and conversations with people. I started about ten years ago after I finished my PhD. I was sick and tired of reading for academic knowledge and couldn't bring myself to read for pleasure. Truthfully, I had grown up surrounded in a family of readers and never quite understood their penchant for staying inside curled up with a book when you could go out exploring!
But with two small children in tow and a non-native English-speaking husband, I felt obligated to at least pretend I liked reading for pleasure. As I got into the myriad of fables and storybooks I began to notice something about my own interest level: it increased the more connected the books were to each other. I wondered if I could trick myself into reading for pleasure more by changing my approach.
Could my love for ideas translate into an approach for reading?
The answer turned out to be YES! I discovered that if I could connect what I read to a theme, with an essential question guiding my choices, a new world opened up. To be honest, it has been amazing. My big line to people is that I'm in a book club for one, so I have to only be accountable to myself.
The truth is, I LOVE it and have developed a true passion for learning through my questions. Not only do I read essays, novels, and non-fiction, but I’ve also been able to fold in my passion for watching movies and listening to NPR. The net result is that I average investigating hundreds of artifacts each year, and just for my own personal pleasure.
If you look at the list below you'll see that for a long time, the questions seem to go back and forth between heavy and light themes. More recently, I’ve gotten more esoteric. But the cool part is that each year, the next question emerges from the previous year's readings and I never know what it’s going to be.
Here is what I have explored from most recent back to the beginning:
- 2013—How does knowing or not knowing your Purpose impact life? How do you if it's divine?
- 2012—What is power? Who has it?
- 2011—(last six months) What is honor? How do you get it? How do you keep it?
- 2011—(first six months) Random recommended readings!
- 2010—Which ideas change us and why?
- 2009—What was the common man's experience in Great Britain from 1066 to the Victorian era?
- 2008—What's the back-story to the British monarchy, especially in from 1500 to 1700?
- 2007—Who is the greatest female protagonist? Why?
- 2006—What is the inter-relationship among the religious, spiritual, metaphysical and historical schools of thought?
- 2005—How do people experience a magical world?
- 2004—What does it mean to read for fun?
- 2003—Finished my PhD
I’m still deciding on 2014's question. My three contenders are:
- Why does place matter?
- Where does courage hide and is it so fickle?
- “Good Vibrations?” What is the science behind the Beach boy’s famed lyric?
But to be honest I'm not sure. And please don’t ask for the reading list. My only regret has been my greatest indulgence: NOT keeping good records of what I read, heard or saw.
Happy New Year!
Dana,
Closet reader for life