SOFT INTERROGATIONS - out today

the questions are now a thing you can hold

I made something I need.

It’s hard to face up to your own facts sometimes. Especially when they’re a changin’. I spend the mornings trying to get Up and Out, the afternoon trying to stay level, the evenings trying to soothe. I think it’s all just an attempt to stay. Here. I know myself better in the mornings through, when the cool ribbons of light first reach.

Up with the sun.

I’ve never really gotten clear on anything by forcing myself to Think Harder. How is the nervous system meant to cope with everything? Answers really do show up in the slower times, when I can fall into step with my thoughts. In the past, I’d sit down and try to be productive with my thoughts, try to land on conclusions, try to tie things up. I want to ask better questions of myself and live alongside them for a while, strong, daring questions with teeth,

the ones I don’t really wanna answer but keep coming back to on a Tuesday afternoon when I feel flat. Faint. Inflamed. Underrepresented. Feral. Lost. The ones that help me notice what the hell I’m avoiding and some of the mess I’m carrying.

So I use questions when I feel scattered or when I’m working toward a decision, or when I’m day-tired, and everything feels Much Too Much. I use them, too, when I’m tempted to rush myself or explain myself away. They slow me down, in fact, so much of the progress in my life has come from staying with questions like,

What’s one past version of me that I’ve outgrown, and how do I honour her without staying in her shoes?

I don’t force any kind of resolution. Sometimes I just let the question be the question, sitting right beside me as I go about the day - that’s usually enough to shift something. I started writing these questions down as anchors. Something to come back to when my thinking gets crowded, or my attention is off in too many directions. I want them off my phone and away from all my tabs and the non-stop non-stops,

so I made a physical set of them for myself, which live on my desk. I fill in these pages when I need to slow things down, make a decision, or tell myself the whole truth, no dancing around. I’ve been sharing some of these questions here and on Instagram over the past few months, and a few people have asked where they come from. This is where!!!!

I’ve been using mine for a good while. It’s how I come up with some of these entries.

I called them SOFT INTERROGATIONS because they’re direct shots to the heart, and give you somewhere to stand while you figure things out. If you tend to carry a lot and, like me, prefer language that helps you dial in, this is how we begin.

70 pages; all these searching questions. 5 × 7 inches (a small notebook).

Tear it out, write on it, put it in the recycle bin or keep it. The point is that you don’t choose the question; you answer the one that’s there. No flipping for the right mood, therefore less to decide. Three colourways: Clay, Moss, Shroom. $36 each. There’s also a set of all three for $99 for desks, gifting, or because you couldn’t pick one. The first run is small¹.

All love,

Yrsa

1. Currently shipping to the US and select international destinations, hoping to add more countries as I grow.