So, when I was in high school, I went on a leadership retreat and one of the tasks we were given was to go off with one other person and answer this list of questions. The experience was called Insights. I am not sure who the original creator of this exercise is, but I then used Insights with my students when I became a high school teacher and as a college administrator. It was always a hit (the key, I think, in an educational setting was that I always paired students who didn’t know each other all that well). Anyway, I was digging around my computer the other day and came across the instructions for Insights (if you were to do it sitting down with another person). I also thought it might be fun as a meme or as journaling prompts so have at it however you want. I’ve shared my answers below. Feel free to randomly choose a number (or numbers) and share your answer. Or choose the question that corresponds with your birthdate and share that answer here!
INSIGHTS
An Interaction Experience
Objectives:
1) To create an awareness of each other through the use of questions designed to reveal more than what superficial conversations include—deeper mutual concerns and insights between people who are not close friends.
2) Gives you a chance to open up positively to each other —providing a vehicle for people to communicate on a real level as soon as possible.
Procedures:
1) Each person must answer every question. You may pass while you think. But be certain to come back to each one.
2) Questions are not to be explained or limited. Each person should just react to the question that he or she hears.
Questions:
1.What is the best movie you have ever seen? When I was young, probably The Wizard of Oz. Now, probably Shawshank Redemption.
2. What is the most beautiful thing about people? Their capacity to love in great measure.
3. What physical thing do you want to build more than anything else? I’d love to have a little artist’s cottage, and it would be incredible if I could have a hand in building it.
4. What do you like to do most with a free hour? Read, nap, or get a massage.
5. On what basis do you select your friends? Generosity of spirit and sense of humor.
6. What is the greatest value that guides your life? Love.
7. If you could choose to be an animal other that man, what animal would you choose to be? A Beluga Whale.
8. If you could smash one thing and only one thing, what would you smash? Hatred.
9. What sound would you use for beauty? Waves coming into the shore.
10. If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go first? Tuscany, Italy.
11. When you die, what do you want written on your tombstone? My name??? I can’t think of how to sum up a life in a pithy phrase right now.
12. What person has influenced your life most? I think that person has just come into my life– Abram.
13. What makes you most secure? My intentionality.
14. Choose a word to describe sunset. Breathtaking.
15. When do you feel most lonely? When I can’t communicate what I feel and why I feel it.
16. Choose a word which you feels describes senior citizens. Wise.
17. What do you love the most? Who– my family. What, conceptually– the opportunity for growth.
18. When you think of children less than three years old, what comes to mind? Vulnerability, possibility.
19. If you were to paint it, what color is love? a rich purple.
20. If you could change places with one person for a day, whom would it be? Michelle Obama.
21. An outside activity, I am active in is… pushing baby boy in his blue car.
22. My future dreams for myself include… a satisfying career and home life. The deliberate growth of Circle de Luz.
23. What comes to your mind first when you hear the word reality? shows and how they aren’t real at all.
24. What is the most significant book you have ever read? Black Boy by Richard Wright
25. What is your favorite article of clothing? a circa 1990 long sleeved shirt in a strong aqua color that I stole from my brother
26. What is your favorite food? Besides cupcakes, ice cream, and my mother-in-law’s brownies? Low country boil (which is a meal and not just a food but that’s okay).
27. What is your least favorite food? I have texture issues with bananas and raw tomatoes. Totally freak me out.
28. What is the most beautiful sight you have seen? Our son, the first moment we met him.
29. What is the most overwhelming thing you know? The number of orphans that exist in this world.
30. What is the greatest problem in the United States? Poverty and inequity– really a travesty in a country that is supposed to be created in a way that allows for things to be equitable.
31. What thing makes you feel most humble? Being a parent and caring so much about someone else but not having total control over their safety and reality.
32. What is the greatest crime one man can commit towards another? the taking of a life, literally, or of one’s will to really live.
33. What makes you laugh? Cheeky, surprising humor; usually based on a turn of phrase.
34. Choose a word that best describes your total life up to this moment of time. Intended.
35. What do you think of when you think of tragedy? Loss.
36. When do you sense being most alive? When I am in motion.
37. What T.V. show do you like the most? Ever? Probably West Wing and Seinfeld. Right now? Friday Night Lights!
38. If you woke up with only one ability, what would you wish it to be? Not realistic? Teleportation? More realistic? Singing ability.
39. What is the biggest waste you know of? One’s talent and possibility.
40. What future discovery do you anticipate most? a cure or vaccine for cancer
41. What do you hate the most? Hatred.
42. What do you want to change about yourself? My tendency to make work.
43. What do you like most about yourself? my creativity/ability to problem solve in the moment
44. What one day in your life would you like to live over? One of the days when I was in Brazil. It was such an incredible experience.
45. What is the most powerful force loose in the world today? Positive force? Optimism and the dawning of a realization that we need to love people, not things.
46. What is the best thing you have ever done? opened my heart to a family and been led to our baby boy
47. What kind of leadership makes a difference in this world? Intentional, un- personally ambitious, humane, holistic leadership
48. What color best describes you? Peacock Blue/Green
49. What is the one thing you have always wanted to do but never had the guts for? Traveled with a band.
50. What book would you take with you to a stranded island? Way too many options– each for different reasons.
