Asking Why

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The route to root causes. Whenever I answer my husband’s question, ”What’s the matter?” His reply is, “That’s not it. What is it really?” He knows continued questioning leads past the symptoms to the cause. My daughter sent me an article, used for safety investigations in her office. It recommends asking why five times and says that solutions are often simple but can be camouflaged by years of routine. That is so true! We can apply this rule of five questions to any issues we are having, for instance many students tell me they feel tired all the time. If it were me, it would go like this…
Why do I feel tired all the time? I’m not sleeping well. Why am I not sleeping well? I wake up in the night. Why do I wake up in the night? I didn’t eat enough protein for dinner and then I start thinking of things. Why didn’t I eat enough protein? I didn’t feel like cooking. Why do I think thinking about things helps? It doesn’t. Can I make an agreement with myself to be more careful of what I eat and to use the time if I do wake up in the night to count my blessings, repeat a mantra or do a body scan? I can!

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