"So What?": Questioning Your Assumptions

by Susie Cortright

All journalists live by the 5 w's: "Who," "What," "Where," "When," and "Why." But there's another question that I have always been particularly fond of: "So What?"
Answering the question "So what?" in your writing can take your story from a laundry list of facts to something salient. It can bring into focus the bigger picture.

As in writing, so in life.

When was the last time you said "So what?"

Many of us look at our lives as if through a windshield. We go to work; we take our kids to soccer practice; we become very important in our circles. We cram our lives with so much information, so many friendships, so many of someone else's standards. But we have forgotten to ask, "So what?"

What does it all matter? What's the bigger picture?

These simple questions, asked daily and repeatedly, force us to question our assumptions about our lives and the way we are choosing to live them.

These simple questions can lead to a simpler, more sacred life. Now, many simple living tomes have us adding things to our schedules. We are to keep a journal, find a weekend retreat, learn yoga, meditate. Some of these will indeed simplify your life. Some will not. What you're going to do here is to subtract the things from your life that don't matter to you. And you're going to do this by broadening your view.

This marks a turn toward Conscious Living, where you will question each task, each responsibility, each purchase. You will ask, "Why am I doing this?" and "Is this really important to me?"

Conscious Living makes for a more soul-centered life. As I go along in this world, I'm becoming more convinced that finding peace is not about striking the proper balance among mind, body, and spirit. Rather, peace comes from allowing your spirit--alone--to lead.

Peace comes from aligning yourself each day with your center; from letting that alignment lead you throughout your day, in every conscious decision you make, in every assumption you question.

Peace comes from the recognition that love is not an emotion but a way of life. Peace comes when we can trust the spirit to care for the mind and the body. Because the hole where your spirit belongs can drain the life out of you.

For now, begin by keeping in your mind the idea that everything you do, buy, eat, and possess is a choice, which represents an assumption you have made about the world and your place in it.

Now say "So What?"