Nurse Wisdom from the ICU at OHSU (5.5.19)

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

“Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. We may not always have the answers but your questions are a gift. Your questions challenge and expand our thinking. Your questions help you feel more empowered in participating in your wife’s healing.”
We live in a world that rewards the correct answers. Do your answers fit the questions that really matter?Learning the art of asking sacred questions leads to our healing. Answers are conclusions. Questions are invitations into the field of possibilities.
Jesus asked 307 questions and he only answered 3. Spiritual wisdom is less about having the right answers and more about the courage to wrestle with the questions that awaken our souls inviting us to live mindfully and meaningfully.
Here are some questions that, in the words of Mary Oliver, might keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable:
If you had your life to live over again, what would you do differently?
What captures you so fully you forget to eat and poop?
How would your life be different if you had no fear of embarrassing yourself?
What’s the one thing you’d like to change about the world? How are you using your gifts to change it?
When is the last time you did something for the first time?
When is the last time you laughed so hard you thought you would pee your pants?
What makes for a really good day?
What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
What would you do differently if you didn’t care what others think?
When is the last time you were still enough to feel your heartbeat?
What are you holding on to that you need to let go of?
Are you doing what you believe in, or settling for what you are doing?
Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
If you could ask Jesus one question, what would it be? What question would Jesus ask you?
Are you spending your energy on the things that matter most or the things that matter least?
What is one way your life could be used for the healing of the world?
Do people feel important in your presence?
Be present to the questions the either inspire or unsettle and let the questions make room in your heart for the unimaginable.