Socrates taught by asking questions.  The method he used is known as “maieutics” from the Greek term for “midwifery”.  Because, believed Socrates,  the teacher was a midwife in that he helped give birth to latent knowledge in a person.  By the way,  Socrates’ mother was a midwife.

Maieutics  uses interrogation to arrive at logical reasoning and to elicit the ideas of the interlocutor rather than of one’s own. Like a psychologist.

So, for DIY therapy, use your diary for self-interrogation. Some typical psychologists’ questions are: What brings you here? What is the problem you’d like to resolve? What would it take to make you happy? Etc.

“Why?” is always a good start for ping ponging questions and answers.  Example: Why do I like to drink wine so much?  Because it relaxes me. Why do I need to relax so much? Because my work stresses me out. Why does my work stress me out so much ? Etc. Then you give yourself a series of possible answers and study these answers eliminating those that lead to contradictions.

Questions I asked myself today:

  To get the right answers, sometimes it helps if you ask the right questions.