25 Thought Provoking Questions to Ignite Your Mind

Although Plato is known as one of the greatest and most influential teachers of the Western world, Socrates was the man who ignited his thoughts.

Before Socrates was ruthlessly executed by his own government, he directed the Athenians from not only thinking about wealth, politics, games, or rhetoric. He taught the people to think about themselves and their personal values. He taught people how to understand themselves in this complicated world and how to live a fulfilling life.

Such as how Socrates led people from thinking about their everyday temporarily desires, it’s crucial to routinely awaken your motivation and willpower. It’s easy to become motivated for a temporarily set of time whenever someone aim towards a certain goal, but when the hardship of life comes into play, things get complicated. Their goals get foggier daily and they eventually lose sight of what they intentionally wanted.

I have a close friend whose main goal was to lose weight. I’ll change his name to John to hide his identity. John was never comfortable with his weight and made it a goal to lose enough weight to fit into some new clothing he bought as a prize.

Initially, John went to the gym everyday and stuck to what he wanted. But as each day passed, he saw little to no results and questioned why he was exercising in the first place. He dealt with the stress he had at work and his romance life. He then reduced the amount of days he exercised until he eventually stopped going altogether.

Perhaps you’ve dealt with a similar experience. Maybe you set a goal for yourself to develop an App or start a business but eventually lost your purpose. You might give your business or book idea a thought or two during the day, but you see it as an impossible reach.

But one of the greatest characteristics Socrates performed upon the public was asking them simple, and yet complex question. Otherwise known as Socratic questioning, this is a disciplined questioning that is meant to send your thoughts in many directions. It’s meant to force your thoughts to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, and open up issues and problems.

You might ask yourself what kind of career you want, but that isn’t a question you can only answer with X or Y. There’s many thoughts you have to add into the question such as, “will it make me happy,” “can I help someone with my career,” and “how will I get there.”

Upon answering the following questions, it would be wise to not give yourself an immediate answer. Instead, answer any of the following questions by thinking in a Socratic fashion that’s provided below:

Why did I say this? What exactly does this mean? What do I already know about this? Do I want this or does someone else want this? How did I come up with this assumption? How much do I agree with this thought?

If possible, grab a piece of paper to answer any of the following questions. Reflect on either 1, 4, or all 25 questions asked below. This process will clear the fog that’s in your mind, and give you a better perception to why you want to lose weight, start your business, or establish a certain lifestyle.

1. What am I holding onto that I need to let go of?

2. If death was no longer a concern, how would my life change?

3. If I never had to worry about money again, where would I set my life to?

4. Who are the closest people in my life?

5. Have I affected anyone’s life in a positive way?

6. If I don’t do “it” now, when will I and what’s stopping me?

7. What would my child self think of me today? Would he or she be proud or depressed?

8. Can I consider myself a role model for younger people?

9. What’s holding me back from doing what I really want?

10. Who do I look up to for inspiration?

11. What’s my idea of a relaxing day?

12. What’s distracting me from chasing after my dreams?

13. What am I buying myself that’s distracting me from what I really want?

14. What am I really afraid of?

15. What is the reason my greatest inspiration?

16. How can I be like the person who inspires me the most?

17. When I failed in the past, why did I give up on it?

18. Why do I allow other people to control how I feel?

19. Am I really satisfied with my accomplishments?

20. What personal goal do I want to do, but haven’t yet.

21. Are there toxic people in my life, and why do I still spend time with them?

22. Do I buy things only to distract me or do they serve a greater purpose?

23. How much do other people control my happiness?

24. What is content and fulfillment?

25. What is life?

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