Are you asking questions of yourself?  If not, why not?  If you think you are not where you “should’ be in life then ask yourself different questions.  What happens when we feel that we are not where we “should” be is we have allowed a contradiction to germinate in our minds.   As Francisco d’Anconia says to Dagny Taggart in Atlas Shrugged, “Check your premises Dagny. Contradictions do not exist.” The way to understand the contradictions within us is through questioning our motives and compare to whatever objective reality we have access to.  This is easier said than done as we all have difficulty facing ourselves and the facts surrounding us.  In addition to the facts, we often have to face other’s opinions of ourselves.  The thing is, everyone has different perspectives.  To piece together the reality from different perspectives, it takes more than two or three points of view if they are even available.

Are you asking questions of others?  More often than not we communicate in a one-way manner.  We all like to hear about ourselves.  Some do this through talking about themselves openly without end.  Others do this by getting others to talk about them.  And some don’t talk much as they don’t like facing other’s perspectives.  I’m over simplifying a bit.  However, my point is that we have to learn how to listen in order to be open to what people have to say before we can ever ask valuable questions.  Often when we do ask questions, we avoid the subjects that will reveal our vulnerabilities  through the perspective of an other.  Even if we are able to listen and reflect upon ourselves, we must remember that each perspective, including our own, is unreliable.  Thus, it takes objectivity to understand one’s own internal environment and it’s fallibility before one can open themselves up to others and the environment we integrate with.