Jennie Lee - Spark Change: 108 Provocative Questions for Spiritual Evolution

Table of Contents

TO BENEN

May the force of love guide you
through a life of great questions!

CONTENTS

The important thing
is not to stop questioning.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

INTRODUCTION

T here is a moment when we know that we are ready for morea deeper understanding of life, a more profound experience of it. No one can make us ready, and no one can stop us once this desire awakens within us. There comes an urgency prompted by our soul, a need to know, a need to evolve, a need to be more. Sometimes it comes through the proverbial dark night of the soul, and sometimes it just keeps us up at night! As I write this, its 2:21 a.m.

The urgency to serve this new level of knowing and being is undeniable. It is an unmistakable call to action, and it often begins with a question. For two decades, as I have studied and taught spiritual philosophy and soulful living, one question has burned in my soul, calling me to action again and again. The question is, How do I keep the flame of personal evolution toward love alive in my heart and how do I ignite the spark of spiritual awakening in others? Okay thats two questions, but they run together in my mind. The need to serve our shared spiritual advancement is the passion that fuels my life and my work.

The answer I have found, through hundreds of client sessions, conversations with friends, and much internal searching, is that evolution and the willingness to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually comes either as a result of dramatic pain and suffering or through the blessing of love. Once this directive from our soul has been ignited, it is painful to try to ignore it. Fortunately, when we give our full attention to personal evolution, it becomes a rock-solid foundation for our happiness.

If this makes sense to you, keep reading, but prepare yourself. Most people want simple answers and an easy button. This book has complex questions and a reality check. There is no easy button to spiritual self-awareness. It is a process that requires a ruthless willingness to introspect and undaunted courage to change that which needs changing. No one can do the work for you. But this book can help you do it, if you are awake, and if you are ready. Herein lies an invitation to know yourself better, accept yourself more, and realize your lifes highest potentials.

This is the work I do with my yoga therapy clients. Rather than offer advice, I ask illuminating questions that help them find their own inner truth. Then I share practices that enable them to maintain and live from that soul-connected place. I have seen brilliant transformation in every category of peoples lives as a result of this process, from deepened relationships to improved health and newfound purpose. Sadly, I have also watched people pay good money to get the map and the equipment and then never take the journey.

THE VALUE OF INTROSPECTION

Through years of coaching, I have learned that telling someone what to do, or even how to do it, is not enough. Asking the right questions is what matters, because by trying to answer them, people become invested in their own solutions and ways to change. Inquiry is necessary to every human life. From the time we learn to speak, we question the world around us and our experiences within it. Only humans have a consciousness that can observe and analyze itself and make choices based on its conscience.

The questions in this book will help you cultivate greater self-knowing and eventually self-actualization, which leads to an unshakeable inner happiness that is the bedrock of true success. The purpose of the questions is to engage you in the practice of introspection. By puzzling through the right question at the right time, you click on the creative brain and fuel yourself with intention. As you solve your own quandaries, you expand your consciousness and level of joy. As Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living.

WHAT IF...

Imagine for a moment that life has a question for you. Are you listening to what it is asking right now? Are you aware of your souls intention for embodiment at this time or are you at odds with it? By taking a break from the restless rush of life to ponder such questions and to listen to your inner spirit, you give yourself an exceptional gift and consciously invoke your personal evolution.

Introspection such as this book suggests is not for the fainthearted or the self-critical. It is essential to cultivate a positive relationship with our own minds, assessing whether the thoughts and questions we are entertaining are helpful for our development or not; whether they are life-affirming or detrimental to our spirit. We must be able to raise difficult questions without falling prey to the negative or judgmental inner critic. In order to do this, self-inquiry requires courage, self-compassion, and ridiculous amounts of humor. When undertaken in the right way, it enables us to relax into our lives, as we come to understand and embrace both the absurdity and the lovability of our human nature.

MORE ON WHY QUESTIONS MATTER

Our whole internal thinking process operates on a question-and-answer, or Q and A, system, so it stands to reason that if we are seeking new solutions to lifes challenges, it behooves us to make this Q and A dialogue in our heads conscious. Quality questions lead to quality answers. Good friends, good parents, and good leaders all know that the right questions are like keys to our inner doors. They take us to something within that we dont yet know or havent yet considered. They give us a new way of looking at problems. That is why questions form the foundation of introspection. To be able to question ourselves and life shows curiosity and a willingness to grow. Questions promote deeper thought, connection, authenticity, and humility. They gnaw at us and push us toward greater clarity. And they spark wonder.

Introspection helps us create a thematic, narrative thread for our lives, keeping us on track and nudging us into new possibilities. It is a daily conscious effort to improve ourselves and spiritualize our lives. Good questions help us move toward the intentional creation of our desires and illuminate what sets us backward into old, unconscious patterning or habitual reactivity.

As we learn to be authentic in the questions we ask ourselves, we simultaneously learn how to engage others with connection-building questions as well. This deepens our relationships by engendering empathy, compassion, and understanding. The more truthful we become in our self-reflection process, the more we will recognize any hidden motivations for asking certain questions of others. We will see if we are leading them toward an answer we hope to receive, creating a distraction so we dont have to be vulnerable, or trying to expose some weakness of theirs in order to feel better about ourselves. As we learn to ask questions that uplift and inspire, we experience greater harmony and love, in our own hearts and in every external relationship. And eventually, in addition to evolving into greater self-awareness, we also evolve beyond it to self-transcendence and the expanded experience of oneness.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE QUESTIONS

When I meet someone who asks powerhouse questions, I tingle with joy. Feeling stopped, in need of a moment to ponder my answer, I know I am on the edge of a new perspective and a liberating possibility. In these pages, I aspire to be one of these people for you. I hope these questions make you stop and really think. I encourage you to look at the questions you are asking of life and to listen to the questions life is asking of you. I believe that by undertaking an intentional approach to the questions we ask of ourselves and each other, we will make quicker evolutionary strides, individually and collectively.