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This Valentine’s Day, Here Are Questions to Hold with Care

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education By Leave a Comment

This Valentine’s Day, I want to share gratitude and say again that I’m making it through these times because of community care and creative interventions, including many small affirmations that add up to being here, breathing in and out, writing little by little, and taking it truly day by day.

In these times, gifting feels more important than ever, so for the coming months (in my newsletter, via social media, and through YouTube), I’ll be offering more prompts and exercises, including from the self-paced course on aligning career with commitments.

Here I share a series of questions you might write, walk, or sit with. I’ve been staying with this one in particular:

What work feels especially urgent at this time—this time in my life personally and this time in a collective sense? What writing feels especially urgent? What relations and community connections? What forms of mutual aid and care? What everyday actions and embodied practices? What ways of showing up? What ways of resting? What ways of trying again?

Writing, walking, or sitting with questions like these typically leads to more questions alongside insights and intentions. One of the reasons I value ongoing career discernment is that questions related to career open a lot of other BIG questions, including how we understand ourselves, our place in the world, the possibilities available to us, and much more. Sometimes holding a question without expectation of the answer is the kindest gift I can offer myself.

So, I hope you might journal and work with any questions that resonate and leave the rest — without expectation or pressure but with curiosity, creativity, and compassion. And I hope that many gifts and affirmations flow your way today, providing a buoy and boost, because, oh, how we need extra care to counter the cruel conditions of these times.

Here I’m thinking, too, of bell hooks’s teachings in All About Love: “To truly love we must learn to mix ingredients—care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication” (page 5). So, may holding questions allow us to offer up and mix together ingredients needed now.

With deep gratitude and the desire to learn and better practice love,
Beth

—
Beth Godbee, Ph.D. (she/her)
Heart-Head-Hands: Everyday Living for Justice

A Few Highlights:

A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “Questions for Career Discernment.” Below the oval reads “Consider these and other questions together through career discernment coaching.” followed by the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What about your current career gives you energy—fires you up or inspires you?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What about your current career drains your energy so that you need to refuel in other directions?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What pushes away from your work (from as large as your professional identity to as small as a piece of this career chapter) are you currently experiencing?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What pulls toward something else are you noticing? Where and when are you being pulled to work in other directions, through other means, in other contexts, etc.?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What potential losses or downside risks might be involved in making a change?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What potential gains or upside risks might accompany a career change?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What work feels especially urgent at this time—this time in your life personally and this time in a collective sense?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What additional information or actions would help you feel more empowered in moving forward?” Below this is the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.
A light orange background with a large red-orange oval in the center accompanied by a brown quotation mark. Text in the oval reads “What more do you need to feel, know, or do (heart-head-hands) to continue with your career discernment process?” Below the oval is text reading “ Reach out today for a no-cost consultation. We can talk about your initial answers and how coaching can support you. ~ Beth” followed by the Heart-Head-Hands logo. Decorating all four corners of the image are illustrations of sunflowers. There is one in each corner with a slightly larger sunflower in the upper left and lower right corner.

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