Young children are relentless questioners.

Just ask any parent of a kid whose mouth can fire “Why?” and “What’s that?” faster than speeding bullets, into the air and the ears of a sometimes exasperated audience.

But, says journalist Diane Stopyra, for adults who’ve lost that inquisitive nature–which is, ahem, most of us–it should also be aspirational.

Asking questions isn’t just a useful mechanism for getting the salt passed to you at the dinner table. It’s also an undervalued skill set. And while it may sound strange to describe such a simple rhetorical device this way, that’s exactly how psychologists think of it: as a remarkably powerful strategy for improving one’s life.

The problem is most adults treat asking questions like we treat touching the door handle of a public restroom: sometimes necessary, but also unpleasant and best avoided whenever possible. 

Asking questions really can feel like a dangerous thing to adults, who may be afraid of looking ignorant or weak.

The good news is that these fears are wildly misplaced, says Stopyra. If you can get past the insecurities and learn to harness the simple power of asking more questions, you find your life improving in a few critical–not to mention joyful–ways.

In this episode, we’ll explore how this can happen for us all…

NOTE:

Stopyra, Diane. “9 Reasons to Ask More Questions.” Forge, November 2, 2018.

https://forge.medium.com/9-reasons-to-ask-more-questions-43fb61dbf73f