Do you know what your spouse believes to be the meaning of life? Do you know how old your parents think they would be if they didn't know how old they were? Do you know your sibling's life motto?

These are a few of the questions that I posed to my family last Thanksgiving. I created a document with 13 questions on it and asked my family to fill it out a few days before Thanksgiving. I am attaching the document that I created, Do You Know?, for your reference. You can also see the questions posted below.

1. If you were stranded on an island, what three foods and one drink (other than water) would you want an unlimited supply of?
2. If you were featured on the cover of a magazine, which one would you want it be?
3. What are the place(s) you still want to travel to that you have not (assuming perfect health and you had the money)?
4. What is a food or drink that you miss that you have given up for health reasons?
5. What is your favorite quote?
6. What is your life’s motto?
7. What are you most proud of in your life?
8. What were the defining moments in your life (i.e. changed the course of your life)?
9. What is the meaning of life?
10. Name a funny word.
11. If the ATM gives you $1,000 instead of $100, what would you do?
12. If you could re-name yourself, what would it be?
13. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?

Feel free to use these questions or create your own with additional or different questions. I had a friend of mine take the answers from everyone and put them into one document so that I could play along too. I printed out a copy for everyone. After we enjoyed our turkey feast, each of us individually wrote down our guesses of which family member said each of the answers. We then went through the questions as a group to find out the true identity for each answer. It was fun, heartwarming, and informative. And, it was not as easy as you might think!

How often do you talk about these kinds of questions with your friends and family? Too often we are caught up in what is going on for us (or others) in the now and that drives our conversations. There is nothing wrong with this, but sometimes it is a good change of pace to talk about broader and deeper life topics. You may learn a few things that you did not know about your loved ones.

I loved learning that my 72-year-old dad feels like he is 62 (should I be concerned that my 44-year-old husband feels like he is 13?), and that my husband thinks the meaning of life is to "Leave the world a better, happier place than when you entered it."

Do you know what your friends would re-name themselves if given the chance? If not, it may be fun to find out. Why not try it this Thanksgiving? Report back and let us know what interesting things you learned about your friends and family.

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Dina Colman, MA, MBA is an author, healthy living coach, and founder of Four Quadrant Living. Dina has a private practice helping clients live healthier and happier lives. Her Amazon Top 100 book, Four Quadrant Living: Making Healthy Living Your New Way of Life, guides readers to make healthy living a part of their daily lives, leading to greater health, vitality, and happiness. Contact Dina at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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