Questioning Worry

THE BOLDER WAY™

QUESTION ANYTHING

QUESTION RESOURCE 0017

THE QUESTION

What am I actually worried about?

Worry can arise around something that has happened, something that may happen, or something I cannot yet know.

Sometimes it draws my attention toward something that matters.

Sometimes my attention stays with what might happen long after I have identified what actually needs my attention.

Questioning worry does not require me to dismiss the concern, decide that the worry is unreasonable, or make the worry go away.

It makes the worry itself available for Questioning.

A QUESTION TO HOLD

What is worry doing here?

BEGIN WHERE SOMETHING GETS YOUR ATTENTION.

You do not have to answer every Question.

THE BOLDER WAY™

QUESTION ANYTHING

QUESTION RESOURCE 0017

BEGIN HERE

WHAT IS HERE NOW?

What has actually happened?
What do I know?
What do I not know?
What am I imagining might happen?
What am I treating as though it has already happened?
What possibility has my attention?

What makes that possibility especially present to me?
What am I responding to: something happening now, something that might happen, something I do not know, or something else?
What part of this belongs to now?
What part belongs to a future I am imagining?

WHAT CHANGES WHEN I DISTINGUISH WHAT IS HAPPENING FROM WHAT I BELIEVE MIGHT HAPPEN?

What is worry asking me to notice?
What am I noticing because I am worried?
What might I not be noticing because I am worried?

Is there something here that actually needs my attention?
What remains uncertain even after I give it my attention?
Am I trying to answer something that cannot yet be answered?

THE BOLDER WAY™

QUESTION ANYTHING

QUESTION RESOURCE 0017

GO FURTHER

WHAT DO I BELIEVE WORRY DOES FOR ME?

What does worrying seem to help me do?
Does worrying make me feel more prepared?
Does it make me feel more responsible?
Does it make me feel more attentive?
Does it make me feel closer to a Human or situation I care about?
What do I believe I would risk if I were no longer worried?

What would I believe not worrying said about me?
Am I using worry to stay ready for an outcome?
What outcome am I preparing myself for?
How likely do I believe that outcome is?
What makes that outcome feel especially possible?
If the outcome remains unknown, what does the worry change?

WORRY AND ACTION

What am I doing because I am worried?
What am I postponing because I am worried?
What am I checking, repeating, avoiding, or preparing for?
What action, if any, actually belongs here?

Would that action still belong if the worry changed?
Is there anything I can know now?
Is there anything I can choose now?
Is there anything I can do now?
What remains outside what I can know, choose, or do?

QUESTION TO GO FURTHER

What do I believe would change if I were no longer worried about this?

THE BOLDER WAY™

QUESTION ANYTHING

QUESTION RESOURCE 0017

LET THE QUESTION MOVE

WHAT REMAINS?

What remains uncertain?
What remains important?
What still deserves my attention?
What still requires a decision?
What still requires action?

What does not belong to me to decide?
What does not belong to me to control?
How are worry, attention, preparation, care, responsibility, and action related here?
What am I asking worry to do?

LOOK AGAIN THROUGH THE THREE LENSES

SELF

What do I use my worry to tell me about myself?

What do I believe worrying says about how much I care?

What would I believe about myself if the worry changed?

SYSTEMS

What part of this worry is shaped by the Systems I live inside?

What uncertainty, expectation, rule, decision, or condition within a System is part of what I am responding to?

What, if anything, belongs to the System rather than to me?

SOCIETY

What have I learned from Society about what I should worry about?

Which worries have become normal or expected?

Whose expectations influence what I experience as something I should be worried about?

RETURN TO THE QUESTION

What am I actually worried about now?
What became clearer when I distinguished what is happening from what might happen?

What still deserves my attention?
What remains uncertain?
What remains a Question?

What does this reveal about Being Human?

Answers can come from anywhere. Questioning remains yours.

Questioning Worry — QR-0017