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Ep 16: The Art of Asking: How Good Questions Fuel Growth
14 Plays18 days ago
In this episode of the Aligned Living podcast, Dr. Autumn explores the power of asking good questions, and its potential to transform our lives. She explains how the right questions can unlock personal and professional growth, while the wrong ones—or avoiding questions altogether—can keep us stuck in frustration. Acknowledging the resistance many feel toward questioning familiar beliefs and habits, Dr. Autumn reframes it as an adventure in self-discovery and alignment. She shares practical strategies for crafting impactful questions, like creating an open, nonjudgmental space for inquiry and deeply reflecting on the answers. Drawing from thought leaders and authors, she illustrates how effective questioning fosters curiosity, reduces conflict, and propels us toward genuine evolution and fulfillment.
Intro and Outro Music Credit: Savage by Beat Mekanik, Free Music Archive, License type: CC BY
Please visit: www.autumnswain.com
Contact: [email protected]
IG: @drautumnswain
FB: Autumn Alena Swain
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Transcript
Introduction to Dr. Autumn
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello there. I'm Dr. Autumn, leadership consultant, wellness coach, author, and I'm incredibly grateful to be your host of the Align Living podcast.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm here to equip you with the tools, inspiration, and practical tips necessary to lead a life of wholeness and pursue greater Shalom in your life and that of your families, teams, and communities. My mission is to empower you to lead from a place of holistic wellbeing.
00:00:39
Speaker
It's time to say peace out to the fatigue, fog, and frustration of living in a place that lacks abundant wellbeing.
Power of Asking Questions
00:00:49
Speaker
Join me as we embark on a comprehensive exploration of spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic wellbeing, all within the comforting embrace of one podcast.
00:01:08
Speaker
Hey good people, Dr. Autumn here and welcome back to the Align Living Podcast. Now today I'm really super excited to talk with you about the power of asking good questions. Now stick with me because up front that might not sound like super fun or sexy or intriguing, but let me tell you from personal experience in my own life to parenting, to um friendship, to leadership. I have seen this at work in the transformation of my life and many others in so many ways because it is a super, super significant practice um just to to be aware of in your day-to-day life. Again,
00:01:51
Speaker
You know, I've said this before, Align Living is so much about bridging this gap between where you are and where you want to be. And, you know, what if I told you that unless you learn this art of asking good questions, you'll be perpetually frustrated, at least to some extent, because this gap between where you are and where you want to be will remain the same.
Focus on Practical Strategies
00:02:10
Speaker
And so, um you know, this big part of Align Living, right, is, you know,
00:02:15
Speaker
part of my passion and vision behind starting this is to provide really, really practical ways that you can actually make progress in your life. And so I know this is a pretty bold associate, um like opinion about the power of asking questions, but I think at the end of this episode, you might really agree with me because um You know, you'll be able to apply this to all these areas of a line living, right? Spiritual formation, mental, physical, emotional health, ah social health, economic health. um You know, again, part of my vision behind starting a line living, I think I kind of ah didn't complete my thought here earlier, but is, you know, there's so much like entertainment out there, so many exciting things that capture our attention and even can potentially distract us.
00:03:00
Speaker
And so the whole purpose of Aligned Living is to get super practical for you because you know it might not be um the most you know ah entertaining content ever. But you know when you think about like what's necessary to bridge bridge this gap between where you are and what you where you want to be, it has a lot to do with like not the most fun things in the world, but some of the most rewarding transformative things in the world. right like It's the day-to-day disciplines. It's the the the mindset shifts. it's um You know just those things that we have to show up and do on a day-to-day basis um that aren't like Thrilling but are absolutely
Challenging Traditional Beliefs
00:03:39
Speaker
essential. Okay, so that's you know, kind of what we're metackling today But trust me like this idea of asking good questions actually can be pretty darn interesting because it applies to everything in your life from your leadership to your pursuit of your goals to your parenting to anything and To be honest, even how we view society, maybe some of the biggest questions, the biggest things you've been wrestling with internally. Let's say you've kind of been living in a box um on maybe a couple topics or areas of your life because you grew up with an understanding of certain things and you're like, this is just how it is. But when you give yourself the permission to ask good questions,
00:04:18
Speaker
You know, it allows you to not just be stuck in this black and white thinking. You could explore these spaces knowing it's not a right or wrong answer. It's nothing to be stressed or tensed about. It's literally giving yourself just a strong sense of freedom because you could inquire about things that, you know, maybe you've been told to believe or you can inquire about certain ways that you've been doing things.
00:04:38
Speaker
need to say, you know, let me just start asking questions around these things around your own self awareness around, you know, things that you've been taught and just see what you learn because the process is actually incredibly freeing. Now, don't get me wrong. At the beginning, you know, I've been really wrestling with why do people struggle to ask questions around certain things? And I think it's because at the beginning, there might be a sense of fear um to what asking questions around certain things might uncover. But when you move from overcoming those barriers that might keep you from asking questions in the first place ah to kind of um approaching um life with this ah renewed sense of, you know, I want to learn, I maybe want to unlearn in order to grow even more significantly or whatnot, you know, you you're giving yourself permission to get uncomfortable for a minute, but then the other side of that is a great sense of freedom. um But don't get me wrong, I totally relate and understand it might be a little bit challenging on the front end,
00:05:34
Speaker
But um once you start doing this, you'll see just how transformative it can be. And I'm going to get into more details. I just kind of wanted to give you this 30,000 foot view. Now, understanding um the power of asking good questions.
00:05:46
Speaker
Well, it truly, truly is a fundamental skill that can significantly enhance not only our personal but professional growth, okay? um Asking questions drives curiosity, which I'm a huge fan of for myself, for my kids, the people in my life. I'm like, let's be curious, okay? It fosters self-awareness. And as you've heard me talk about, um that's one of like the essential foundational practices.
Self-Awareness and Growth
00:06:10
Speaker
in a line living like any of these goals you want to grow in self-awareness is essential and it's asking good questions is also just crucial for overcoming barriers in pursuit of our goals like asking the question why and i'll talk more about that later um but diving in i want to give you like these four um areas that you can expect to be covered in today's podcast episode And um then we'll kind of just jump right in from there. So I do want to talk about the importance of questions in our growth, right, and give you a little bit more clarity into the specifics around that. And then also um how important questions are in helping us
00:06:46
Speaker
progress towards our goals. It's essential. um Of course, strategies for asking good questions because it's a skill, right? It doesn't always just come supernaturally and we could always learn more around any skill. And then I just want to give you some great resources for um for learning more and then I will give you my highlights or my takeaways from those resources because again,
00:07:07
Speaker
One of the beautiful things about podcasts is you can get more information to dive deeper on topics, but we also want to give you a significant enough overview to where like that could be enough. um So I do want to kind of expand on that initial thought about you know what I've been reflecting on. like Why is asking questions so hard? I've been surveying some people kind of informally and also just like processing it myself. I think part of the reason we have such a hard time asking questions about the things we see or believe or experience um is because we are a little bit nervous about what will happen as a result. all right um Again, I mentioned fear a couple minutes ago. but
00:07:50
Speaker
um just get super practical for you. Imagine that you had a faith belief for a really long time. Just something you grew up with that you just really believed within your faith practice, there was just a certain way of doing things. Or let's say there's a habit that you've been implementing for your physical health for a very, very long time, um and you start asking questions about it and you realize, oh, this might not be the best thing for me. um you know Or maybe you have a thought pattern that you didn't even know was there, or maybe Um, you thought it was adding value to you and you realized it was actually keeping you stuck, you see. So if you have a certain way of doing things, let's say you're in a box around any particular topic, um, you really want to start thinking outside the box. And in order to do that, you need to start asking questions again. It's not like saying like by doing this,
00:08:35
Speaker
you're changing your ways guarantee. What it's doing is just creating a really healthy habit of just being inquisitive around all things, right? So um let's say you learn something, you learn a fact about something. You know, a good practice would be trying to understand the context around those facts. ah You know, for example,
00:08:55
Speaker
Or, again, like if you're feeling a little stuck like asking really good questions about, you know why you might be in that place and maybe there's some things you need to unlearn in order to relearn like that's a really really valuable practice that all of us could benefit from because we all have paradigms right we all have.
00:09:13
Speaker
um you know perspectives based on our life experiences. And so to have a ah healthier, um more full, um diversified outlook on things we need to be willing to unlearn and ask ourselves some really good questions. so um But part of my conclusion um has is that I think that it's easier to remain the same than ask the questions risking change. Now, there's probably a few of you out there that are like, I love change, but for the most part, it can be uncomfortable. So I think naturally, people can resist change at times. And so ah because of that, I think getting in the habit of asking questions and realizing you don't have as much to fear as you really think,
00:09:56
Speaker
um then you might you know be more open to to this process. So um again, I think fear at times could get in the way because what will the answer to those questions require of you?
00:10:10
Speaker
Right? Like, that's a super important thing to consider. um Asking questions. it may It may require new ways of thinking about things. It may require, excuse me, getting uncomfortable in the pursuit of something new. All right? But to be honest, those are also exciting things, right? Like, there's a reason we get stuck.
00:10:31
Speaker
um you know, and aren't making as much progress as we want to make. and And again, you can see why I get pretty darn excited about this practice of asking good questions. It also just makes us a better person, a better friend, a better parent, right? Like, we're not just telling people, we're asking good questions, we're listening, but I'm going to get into that.
00:10:48
Speaker
more later. um But I think, you know, we're afraid of questions because we just sometimes fear the answers. Alright, so I want you to consider questions and answers not as like some strict guidelines that's gonna, you know, force you to have to do something you don't want to do. Just consider them um as part of life's adventure.
00:11:08
Speaker
Like, life is a journey. We're constantly evolving. Like, I learned something more about my faith practice. It draws me closer to God, right? Because it's something I was already thinking about or wrestling with. Or, you know, I learned more about something I could do for my physical health. Like, that's adding value to me. I'm learning more. I'm constantly evolving in my understanding of health and emotions and how to manage emotions better in relationships, right? Like we should embrace learning but we can't like fully learn um and and actually we can't fully have our head and our heart in a space to receive what we're learning if we're not willing to ask these questions, all
Embracing Curiosity and Intuition
00:11:47
Speaker
right? So um this ah whole adventure, this process, it will strengthen you, it will challenge you, it will refresh you, it'll enlighten you um and just help you find more alignment between what you're
00:11:59
Speaker
body and your mind and your emotions and your spirit and your wisdom is telling you and how you're living your life. Okay. So, um, one thing I think is really beautiful and I'm constantly trying to not just implement this myself, but like encourage my kids to do as well as you know, in this process of being inquisitive is just like kind of trusting your, your own intuition, right? And of course, like, we need to grow as human beings so we can trust our intuition more. But I think if, you know, we feel like we can't question things because we've been told this by an authority. And so what I'm feeling in my gut or my heart or my head, I can't really pay attention to. um we're I'm not saying like,
00:12:45
Speaker
what's in your head, what you're thinking is guaranteed to be right. What I'm saying is let's just be open to encouraging the process of like, really honoring our thoughts and our questions and giving space for them, okay? So I will tell you, I'm probably not going to dive into it too much here, but at some point I would love to. Maybe I'll go more into it in the line living um community, but my personal journey, um my, my, my, like everything is evolving when you're growing, okay? So I just, I don't know if it was my
00:13:24
Speaker
parents, I had wonderful parents growing up, I don't know if it was my faith, I don't know it was part of my personality, but I've just always lived life asking questions. And it's just led me to understand things that are important to me more, right? um You know, led me to understand nutrition better, it led me to have a stronger, more refreshing, more peaceful faith.
00:13:42
Speaker
It's led me to grow personally when I ask questions from my thoughts and my emotions, right? I just, I haven't resisted that process. I've embraced it. So I'm trying to like, you know, think about like why that was and also why I find that there is quite a few barriers out there to this practice. Okay. So with that being said, well, you know, this isn't even in my notes, but I think we also need to consider,
00:14:11
Speaker
you know, our desire and our drive to be right. Because when you can release that, it gives you a sense of freedom to just authentically and genuinely want to learn for yourself and for others and to learn from others. um There's probably a handful of other things I'm not going to get into today, but you might even be thinking of some right now as you're listening to this, but just things that we need to be aware of, right? so Anyways, just kind of jumping into those four areas I want to take you through, um starting with the importance of questions in our growth. All right, so growing in knowledge and understanding is not just about acquiring new information. It's about interrogating that information. Okay, it's like you know the whole eat eat the watermelon spit out the seeds like I'm okay learning from and recommending ah resources where I don't agree 100% with what I'm taking in. I just I think that there are gold nuggets I could pull from things and there's other things I might not agree with. We feel like nowadays sometimes we have to like ah be in alignment with people 100% to
00:15:19
Speaker
gain anything from them. And I just don't think that's the case. I think there's such beauty in having diversity of thought and learning from one another, learning from different people's perspectives. So, you know, I might read a book or listen to podcasts where I know I don't agree 100% with everything, but, you know,
00:15:36
Speaker
Growing in our knowledge, you know, by getting new information is good. But then again, we have to question that information, process that information, interrogate that information. Okay. And that's all about good question asking. Okay. Curiosity about the meaning behind the facts often leads us to a deeper understanding. Okay. I I love that. like When I think about like what I want so badly for my kids, sometimes it informs some of what I want to put on this podcast. Because if I love my kids so deeply and I want these things for them so deeply, these are things I want for you all. right like Let's grow in our curiosity about the meaning behind the facts of what we're learning. okay
00:16:16
Speaker
um ah of course essential to growth um when it comes to asking questions is just the self-awareness. This plays such a pivotal role in all of this because by asking ourselves reflective questions and actually taking the time for it, I've talked about margin over and over, like please do this because then we can confront our personal paradigms and challenge the assumptions that shape our worldview.
00:16:41
Speaker
Imagine if we had more spaces where you can come together and we can all challenge each other's assumptions without getting defensive, with an authentic, genuine care for one another. Like, that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?
00:16:52
Speaker
Um, but how we view the world just impacts everything. That's why this point is like super duper important. Self-awareness is good when you're like, okay, why am I not hitting my weight loss goals here? Why am I not sleeping well? Okay. Yeah. We need to ask the questions. We need to have self-awareness around those things, but there's this bigger picture at play on a societal level, like on a communal way of thinking about it, because how we view the world impacts the people around us. And so, um, confronting our paradigms, like it's not saying that your paradigm is bad. Like.
00:17:22
Speaker
One of the beautiful, beautiful things about learning to ask good questions is it kind of like lets down your defensive guard because it just becomes part of your process. Um, because then you could just like grow and you could say, okay, how can I have a healthier paradigm? How can I have a more full paradigm and more diversified paradigm? Okay. Um, another point here is that sometimes the most powerful insights arise from simply asking, what do I need to unlearn?
00:17:48
Speaker
Uh, I think that this self-inquiry process can catalyze the biggest breakthroughs and just elevate our thinking. Okay. So unlearning, yes, it could be a little uncomfortable, but again, it is very, very freeing.
00:18:04
Speaker
um just to let yourself have that space, okay? um And it also helps us to maybe not take everything so seriously. um I mean, while unlearning sometimes involves like some pretty serious topics or serious issues, I think it allows us to be like, like i'm ah you know I'm letting go of the need to be right about everything. I just want to authentically like grow me in a healthy place. um And asking questions is just really important for that.
00:18:33
Speaker
So those are just some really important goal nuggets to hold on to when it comes to the value of asking questions as it relates to our growth.
Encouraging Open-Mindedness
00:18:41
Speaker
Okay, now I want to share some insights into some strategies for asking good questions because sometimes like, okay, where do I start? um The more that you do this, the easier the practice will become.
00:18:51
Speaker
But ah just to kind of give you a ah ah starting point, when you start asking questions, it elicits curiosity. Okay. And then it just creates this sense of openness, which is essential for growth. Because if you remain closed-minded, you're just limiting your ability to see things from different perspectives. And again, this can stifle progress. So slightly redundant there. But again, it's a really important strategy because it just starts to open up. If you're not sure where to start, just start asking questions. It'll build.
00:19:20
Speaker
your curiosity muscles. okay And then to to cultivate a culture of curiosity, inquiry, and growth, just consider um some of these ah very specific strategies. I'm going to share three of them with you. You'll probably think of more. um But one is celebrating asking questions. okay We need to give enough space for this. We're in such a society a society that's so instructive, just like telling people what to do. um And also a hurried society. So how often do we give space to actually celebrating asking questions? Like ah when I did my dissertation at my doctoral studies, even though I was in transformational leadership, we had to pick an intentional focus. And mine was on cultural transformation, because I think the culture that's established in a home, in a workplace, your own personal, um you know, you know, culture, whatnot, that you live by, um all of these things, um
00:20:15
Speaker
you know, what you establish within that culture carries so much weight. So it's the environment where questions are encouraged and valued, emphasize that inquiries are not offensive, but rather pathways to deeper understanding. Okay, I think sometimes we get nervous,
00:20:34
Speaker
to ask a question because we're like, oh man, like how are people going to receive this? But if the culture celebrates asking questions, then you're not going to think about that or worry about it as much. Okay. It might take some time, but a it's a really good place to start. um The second strategy is elevating the value of honesty. Like my kids know this is one of our number one rules, no matter what. And it really has worked. Like ah to be honest, I went to my um oldest, both my kids, fantastic parent-teacher conferences. I was just super proud of them.
00:21:03
Speaker
But my oldest, in fifth grade, they do a student-led self-assessment type of ah process. And it was really great because I was so blown away by how honest um my son's answers were. And it was such a beautiful thing. And I think it in part starts because you know of these conversations we consistently have in our home to create a culture of honesty. um It is a ah value we've definitely elevated. um So honest questions pave the way for authentic growth, both personally,
00:21:32
Speaker
Uncollectively and then being transparent in our questions fosters trust and deeper connections. It just does and that's a really really beautiful thing Think about your richest, you know, it was a romantic relationships or friendships or family It's such a beautiful beautiful um ah Value here. So um and then just the last strategy I want to throw at you um again, you won't be surprised a line living I'm always talking about margin and so we need to pause to reflect This is just allowing time to consider the questions that you're even asking and then the responses. All right. And then you're this pausing really just facilitates some thoughtful inquiry and can reveal insights that if you just were going through like a rapid fire questioning, um you know, that it just it you might overlook because you're not giving your time to to really pause to reflect. So Those are my three strategies here. Of course, there's a lot more. um yeah There's a few resources I'm going to share in a second as I wrap this up that I think you'll be pretty um pleased with if you're like wanting to dig deeper and even more strategies. But the last highlight here is ah progressing the value of questions and progressing towards your goals, okay? Because when you're striving to achieve goals, asking the right questions is super critical.
00:22:47
Speaker
So for example, um what are some of your barriers? Maybe you've listened to earlier episodes on like nutrition or emotions or mindset or exercise or whatever. And again, there's this gap between where you are, where you want to be. So what are your barriers? like Identifying these obstacles is literally the first step in overcoming them. So ask that question honestly. And then what's causing the barriers? okay So what are they? And then what's causing them? Because understanding the root Cause allows for very targeted strategies to move forward, okay? I'm really big on root causes, as you probably know if you've been listening to this podcast. um And then lastly, like what do I know about myself that can help me overcome these barriers, okay? This is where the self-awareness comes in. It provides insights needed to leverage your strengths and address your weaknesses, okay? Because we're all uniquely made, like we all have, ah you know, different ways to find success based on what we know about ourselves and our personalities. So
00:23:43
Speaker
you know, um just acknowledge that, right? I do, and some of the leadership development work that I do, and when I'm talking through my teams with some, um some of their goals, like I'm always like, what feels authentic to you? Like what might work really well for you might not work as well for somebody else, it might feel like you're forcing something. And so acknowledge how you've been uniquely made and created by God, you know, um that's all for a reason. So as I'm wrapping up here,
00:24:07
Speaker
um I do really, really um want to go into more detail about some super specific examples, either in my life or or others where and we've practiced the self-awareness, because I think that's like uber, uber helpful. But I'm ah really, if you want to get even more practical, like please jump over, check out my website, autumnswain.com and um look at, ah consider joining our Align Living community.
00:24:35
Speaker
um Because again, like my desire is is so that people can look back and say, like hey, like you know all those those years or those months where I was talking about wanting to make progress, like I'm actually making progress now. My goal is to get super practical, but obviously podcast episodes are limited because of the length. But um to be able to create a community where we do a lot deeper dive is just something I'm really passionate about.
00:24:59
Speaker
But um before I just, you know, I'll just give you a little little highlight um before I jump into sharing some specific resources. When you are just pick any goal that you might be working on. ah One of my favorite questions is It hurts a little bit, stings a little bit, but it's why am I where I am? Okay, this just is just a little jumpstart for you after those like strategies above. um Ask yourself, why am I where I am? Why is there even a gap? Okay, this is tapping into that self-awareness, but if we get super specific and asking us some of these why questions, it helps us get there a little more quickly. Okay, so, you know, for example, you know what to do.
00:25:46
Speaker
And that, you know, this thing, you know, eating better or praying more, whatever it might be, you know what to do and that it's important for yourself and for others, but you don't do it. You've got to ask yourself why. If you don't pause to reflect on that question and the answers you come up with,
00:26:06
Speaker
It'd be really difficult to bridge that gap, okay? So start asking yourself why. um Oh man, I am going to have to resist every part of me to want to do a deep dive right now with some of the questions and some of the processes that I specifically go through. But foundationally, let me just give you this tidbit. Foundationally, we start asking ourselves the why.
00:26:29
Speaker
Our solutions always come down to the choices we're making, like every little thing. Like when it comes to that gap, we make a choice, it's either closing that gap or widening it. Like there's no neutral space here, right? Like everything we put in our mouth.
00:26:44
Speaker
um our choices we make relationally, like they're all impacting us one way or another. So it so much comes down to choices. And there's mindset shifts that we can have around these. Again, um this is something I dive deeper into in our community, but um I wanted to make sure you at least had some ah conviction for why asking good questions is important.
00:27:06
Speaker
and some strategies to start to ask good questions. um But come over and join us if you want to go a little bit deeper in these spaces. I do want to leave you with some really great resources. um These are just some insights from some influential authors. Again, when I throw resources out there, I'm not saying I agree with everything that they stand for because I certainly do not. But I think there is a lot of really good content that you could pull um from people who just have really good intentions that do want to have an impact again you know so much of our growth um as leaders is you know opening ourselves up to asking our own questions and expanding our own paradigms but in the meantime just going to give you three
00:27:45
Speaker
um So John Maxwell wrote a book, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions, super straightforward. um But in here it just gets super, super specific and in um the process of asking good questions, its role in really effective leadership. He specifically notes that good questions lead to better decisions and deeper relationships. ok um And so I think there's a lot of really good tidbits to pull from this book. um In general, the truth is that leaders who are curious just create environments that encourage team members to share ideas and insights. It just fosters way more innovation and collaboration. And so I love that. So that's one of the reasons I just wanted to share this book as a resource. um
00:28:28
Speaker
going also very old school. Jim Collins wrote a book Good to Great.
Resource Recommendations
00:28:32
Speaker
I actually read it a while ago. I don't remember all the details but I actually memorized without even trying the very first line of the book. It says, um good is the enemy of great. Okay and I really love this. I started out in the non-profit sector and it's a really great example because how often do we say yes to something good but it's actually getting in the way of something that's great, which is also why vision is super duper important but just to give you a little insight so Jim Collins in this book he just highlights the importance of asking the right questions in the context of organizational success but you definitely can apply them to personal goals because again even that statement alone like good could be is the enemy of great like wow that could certainly like
00:29:13
Speaker
ah help inform even some of your day-to-day decisions around even a health goal or whatnot. um But he goes on to discuss this hedgehog concept and is basically just encouraging leaders to understand what they're deeply passionate about and what they can be best at and what drives their economic engine, okay? So these are all good questions for us personally.
00:29:32
Speaker
And then this introspective questioning process is just vital for moving from mediocrity to greatness. Okay, that's a big part of his book, right? Good to great. So um again, and get some really good strategies from that book. um And then the third resource really, I'm just like pointing out ah my conviction behind this, because um I wrote a book called The Playground Leader. And, ah you know, one of the chapters is about instilling curiosity in future generations. Okay, so I had literally dedicated an entire chapter to the value of being inquisitive. um I just believe that when you instill curiosity in our children, it's just essential for their development. It literally empowers them to explore the world around them and just fosters a love of learning that can last the rest of their lives, okay? And so um you could take a peek at my book as well if you'd like, The Playground Leader. But um again, those are a few resources that I recommend.
00:30:27
Speaker
I will tell you that when you can really embrace, this is just wrapping things up here, when you can really embrace ah asking good questions, it just gives you a sense of peace. And I'm at a season of life where it literally like, I do not take peace for granted. I seek it out anywhere I can get it because um life is going to be life and all the time. And if we can have a sense of peace in the midst of the ups and the downs and the chaos and the calm and all of it,
00:30:52
Speaker
um it's just really really valuable and so i find that um asking a question just helps with your piece like how much conflict and stress is literally due to a lack of understanding um and even just consider the role of this in um ah in groups in unity you know amongst groups of people Like, how do you understand people's situations better? Like, you ask good questions. Like, how do you handle conflict better? You ask good questions, okay? So, um, this is a really, really valuable thing. I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. And again, you know, I talked about a lot of different things here, but as it relates to online living, asking questions is not just a skill. It's literally a pathway to holistic wellbeing.
00:31:36
Speaker
and or Shalom, right which is what Align Living is all about. So ah with that being said, now for Coach Autumn's practice of the day, because practice makes permanent not perfect. It's a little bit of a tongue twister, but it's super, super important. So my encouragement to you um is to consider so two things actually one um i want you to consider a space that you have influence over and consider how you can create a culture that encourages and celebrates asking good questions okay so whether it's in your home or a workplace or whatnot think about how you can encourage
00:32:19
Speaker
this to make sure that people feel really, really comfortable asking good questions. Um, the second one gets a little bit practical for your personal goals. Like all the episodes that you've been listening to, like consider one personal goal that you have, whether it's eating better or getting better sleep or navigating, you know, maybe you're trying to navigate some, you know, toxic relationships in your life. You're seeking out some healthier relationships or like whatever, but maybe you have some financial goals. Look at one really specific goal you have and ask yourself,
00:32:48
Speaker
Why am I here? Why have I not made more progress in this space and have a super honest conversation with yourself and then pause to reflect on that answer? Okay, so there's two different things that I really really highly highly encourage you to to embrace for Coach Autumn's practice of the day. So there you go.
Episode Wrap-Up
00:33:09
Speaker
um Can't wait to be back with you. I'm looking forward to having a couple of pretty sweet guests on coming up here. And please hit me up. If you want me to dive into any specific topic, I would really, really love your feedback. So you can hit me up on um Instagram, DM, or through my website, be email. And um I cannot wait to be back with you all. Have a great day.
00:33:35
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Aligned Living Podcast. I'm Dr. Autumn, your guide on this journey to Shalom or wholeness. Ready to embark on this journey of self-discovery and transformation? Head over to autumnswain dot.com to learn more and to dive deeper into the world of Aligned Living. Until next time, stay aligned.