Ask It…Two Ways

Happy New Year and let’s get going!

I love vacuuming up the last of the glitter and confetti. December was great but I’m ready for the New Year. Two sets of questions have been buzzing through my brain this week, and I suspect they may change my life. The first set of questions came from Gretchen Rubin, author of HAPPIER AT HOME. She suggests that when we need to make a decision, we ask these five questions:

1. Will this strengthen my relationships?

2. Will it provide challenge and novelty?

3. What is the opportunity cost?

4. Will this decision help me stay true to myself?

5. When I consider this action, how do I feel?

And, lastly:

6. Will this option help me to “choose the bigger life?”

Those questions quickly ferret out the stupid from the sublime. And just when I felt absolutely prepared to tackle challenges of the new year, speaker Andy Stanley posted an entirely new set of questions in a video called “Question Everything.” You can watch it here:

http://northpoint.org/messages/ask-it/question-everything/

Brilliant. And somewhat painful. And brilliant.

While I wrestle with all the implications, I’ll tell you the three delicious novels I just finished: THE HUSBAND’S SECRET from Liane Moriarty, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M.L. Stedman, and John Le Carre’s THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. I had never read Le Carre, but his work was on a list of the top 100 modern novels, so I decided to try one. Wow. What a master of his world. And THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS was a great tale well told. Perfect for a blustery winter day.

But, if you haven’t read THE HUSBAND’S SECRET, oh. My. Buy it today. I never thought I would find another writer who could write women’s contemporary as wonderfully as Maeve Binchy. Sniff sniff. I never knew I could love again….until this novel.

Happy new year. Question everything. And buy those three books.