What is a Living Inquiry? Leveraging Deep Thought

What is a Living Inquiry? A practice of profound contemplation. Ever feel like life is rushing by without you stopping to truly engage with its deeper layers? A Living Inquiry might just be the transformative practice you’ve been looking for. It's more than just a fleeting question—it’s a long-form strategic contemplation designed to unfold insights over time, whether that’s a month, a year, or longer.

 "It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer."  -Albert Einstein

At its core, a Living Inquiry involves consciously assigning yourself a meaningful, deeper-than-surface-level question or focus. It's not about existential angst or intellectual riddles; rather, it’s about diving into areas of life that feel significant enough to explore intentionally. Unlike the fleeting thoughts or worries that occupy much of our mental space, a Living Inquiry is deliberate. It’s a practice that allows your inner genius to come through—not through chaos or default patterns but through intentional focus.Why Engage in a Living Inquiry?

Whether you realize it or not, your mind is already running inquiries—questions and contemplations—day in and day out. The problem is, most of them are unconscious, driven by patterns rooted in fear, scarcity, or past programming. Left untended, these unconscious inquiries operate through shadow, creating loops of thought that fail to serve your higher potential. But when these inquiries are brought into conscious awareness and tended to with intention, they can become a game-changer.

Living Inquiry invites you to take control of this process, to redirect your focus from what might go wrong to what might expand your capacity to see, feel, and live more fully. It becomes a slow-burn practice of awareness, where profound shifts take root and grow over time.

 "Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."  — Carl Jung  

Let me share a few of my own experiences with Living Inquiry to illustrate how this practice can transform your life:

• Noticing the Divine Feminine in My Partner:
  One year, I focused on seeing my wife as a reflection of the divine feminine. I realized I had been projecting outdated expectations onto her, which strained our relationship. By intentionally noticing her brilliance and the ways she naturally expressed her divinity, I began showing up differently. The result? A stronger, more loving relationship—and a deep awareness of how my projections shaped my world.
• Recalibrating My Relationship with Struggle:
  Last year, my inquiry centered on operating more from grace and less from survival-rooted struggle. It was humbling work. I had to confront how much of my mental energy was spent anticipating problems rather than living in the present. Over time, I shifted from trying to manage difficulty to simply experiencing it. The result was a recalibration of how I move through challenges—and a book and audiobook emerged from the process. (Amazon)

These inquiries weren’t about “fixing” myself but about rewiring the way I engaged with life. That’s the power of a long-form process like Living Inquiry—it changes the way you move through the world, not just where you’re going.

Choosing a Living Inquiry begins with identifying an area of life that feels worthy of your attention. Ask yourself:

• What aspect of my life, awareness, or experience could benefit from deeper contemplation?
• What could lead me to uncover a more profound part of myself?

The inquiry should feel meaningful and expansive—something that allows your genius to come through. For example, it could involve exploring how you interact with a specific relationship, recalibrating a long-held belief, or noticing how grace operates in your life.

As Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in Letters to a Young Poet:
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue."

This year, my Living Inquiry is to orient myself toward witnessing the divinity in everyone and everything around me. I want to stand in the certainty that everything holds genius, and there’s always something whispering its wisdom—if I’m willing to focus.

Focus isn’t easy, especially when much of my mind is calcified in survival-oriented narratives. But I know that by intentionally redirecting my awareness, I’ll uncover levels of insight I’d otherwise miss. I’ll check in with how this inquiry evolves and share what I learn. I invite you to do the same.

What would happen if you gave your consciousness something truly worthy of its attention? Imagine the growth, clarity, and transformation that could unfold if you committed to exploring one profound question or area of focus for an extended period.

This year, join me in this practice. Choose something meaningful to you—something that could reshape how you move through life. And if you’re unsure where to begin or need guidance along the way, I’m here to help. Share your inquiry, your progress, and your insights. Let’s uncover the genius within together.

Blessings on your journey. Happy New Year.