A Guiding Question

Right now, many people are choosing and acting upon New Year’s Resolutions — most often, daily habits that they want to build over time. As we know, some of these will stick, and some will fade away.

Personally, I don’t tend to choose New Year’s Resolutions, but I do greatly appreciate the collective reset that takes place as we cross into a new calendar year. It gives us a chance to reflect, remember, express gratitude, and cast hopes for ourselves and others.

So I wonder… apart from resolutions, what might it be like to choose a guiding question? A query that can allow us to move more into what we desire or hope for our lives? Questions allow us to live in particular directions. They shape not only what we’re asking, but what we then, begin to see. Questions are great space for reflection, playing and trying things out, and of course, action.

I’m curious what you might choose. Here’s mine:

How expansive can a sense of home be?
I ask this question in the direction of place. I ask it especially in the direction of people.

I am willing to be all-kinds-of-frugal this year in certain areas (living simply is a good thing in and of itself) in order to spend money to visit people I love. I want to be with my people, many of whom live all over the country. This isn’t a sense of vacationing; this is a sense of housing others and being housed. I want to host people in my home. And I have many lovely offers of people who would like to host me.

And in some of these places, I don’t only feel at home with the people I’m visiting. I also feel at home in place. Some of these cities also feel like my cities and my towns too. And I want to build that sense and that feeling. Truly,

How expansive can a sense of home be?
I’m going to play with that question all year.

So… what’s your guiding question?

—Renee Roederer