12 Powerful Questions That Only You Can Answer

We don’t live in a vacuum. We are perpetually bumping up against a mix of life’s circumstances, which can interrupt and influence us, even when we’re unaware of their impact. These contexts of our lives are complex and can affect our ideas, behaviors, and interactions.

As we walk through the events of our lives, we are shaped by our own internal individual factors (what goes on inside us) and also by the external and contextual factors that surround us.

Thus, our inner experiences and our actions are often influenced by our inter-actions with the multiple levels of the interconnected human environmental systems in which we live (Bronfenbrenner, 2019; 1994). According to the groundbreaking theory proposed by psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, Ph.D., human development is impacted by the layers of systems that surround us.

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These interconnected systems can be visualized as concentric rings with the individual at the center and additional rings expanding outward toward the progressively broader world. The rings include our immediate contexts, such as interpersonal relationships, family, neighborhood, community, and workplace, and also the wider structures of society, such as cultures, religions/spiritual traditions, social norms, politics, customs, traditions, laws, and ideologies, institutions, and countries. More than we may realize, our internal (personal) ideas, values, and development are typically influenced by these layers of externals.

In today’s turbulent times, the world is shifting in many directions. Recognizing these changes and life’s impermanence can help you understand how events around you influence your own feelings, reactions, and internal dialogues.

While you may have little or no control over many external contexts in which you live, you do have some measure of control about your responses to the circumstances and events that ripple through your life.

The poet Mary Oliver (2017) famously calls on readers in her poem, The Summer Day, to consider “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This provocative question invites you to pause and reflect on what really matters to you. Whatever you “plan to do,” your responses and actions are unique to you, framed within your internal self and cultivated among the diverse layers of environmental circumstances and events in which you find yourself.

What questions do you ask of yourself? These questions can influence who you are and who you might become.

In addition to simply thinking, writing about your thoughts, ideas, and emotions can enhance wellbeing (Pennebaker & Smythe, 2016). If you have the habit of writing in a journal, you might consider the following questions.

Empowering questions for approaching life’s contexts:

1. What do you notice about the ways you’re affected by the layers of your environment?
2. What really matters to you in life’s big picture?
3. What thoughts and emotions are awakened as you ponder your responses to the first two questions?
4. What do you hope for?
5. What do you value most?
6. What are you afraid of?
7. What would you like to learn more about?
8. What do you think you should learn more about?
9. What haven’t you done that you really want to engage in?
10. How would this engagement fit with what you value and your sense of purpose?
11. What are you waiting for?
12. What steps can you take to begin?

Whether you choose to consider one or more of these questions in your thoughts or your journal, only you can answer them for yourself. Who are you and who might you become as you navigate the contexts in which you live?

©2025 Ilene Berns-Zare, LLC, All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only. No content is a substitute for consulting with a qualified mental health or health care professional.