Do you know a driver much stronger in life than being curious? Ever since we are born, the reason we move, the reason we taste everything in our hands, the reason we throw things away is to see what happens is because we are curious and this is how we learn. Getting back to Emotional Equations, Chip Conley's book with one of my favorites states: Curiosity.
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Walt Disney considered that the secret to create something amazing has 4 Cs: curiosity, confidence, courage and consistency. He is the one also saying: "I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious".
Being curious comes also with a large dose of vulnerability. When you are curious you have to admit that you don't know something. You have to let your ego aside. This is why the better people with curiosity are also children. They feel neither ashamed nor stupid to ask again and again "why?" and this is what makes them grow healthy.
Curiosity is the starting point of creativity. Being able to find different solutions needs first the ability to ask the right questions and be open to surprising answers.
The author sees curiosity as the combination between the attitude of a child when each day comes with new and surprising facts (Wonder) and the attitude of a wise man, who knows so much but in the same time he is aware that there are so many other things to learn and he will never be able to understand everything (Awe).
Wonder comes with joy. The joy to discover new things and the impatience to do so. It is a great challenge for us as adults to look at what surrounds us like is the first time we see it and to really enjoy it. All the filters we add to correspond and fit in the society "help" us lose the ability to really enjoy a new activity/ journey/ learning experience.
Awe comes with respect for the unknown, the feeling that there are grater things in the world you can connect to, the humility joining that impatience to get closer to this greater something and even a small amount of fear when we become aware that we are very small is such a big world.
We are raised with things like "curiosity kills the cat", "the paradise was lost because of Eva's curiosity". Maybe we are asked to shut up when we keep asking why as children and this inhibits our ingenue curiosity and we start to believe that it's not ok to be curios and that the "curious dies sooner".
if our curiosity respects the equation and is about being amazed by learning a new thing then it cannot be a bag thing.
If curiosity means I am curious about a private message my boyfriends receives or about the love life of my neighbors that in the first care is jealousy and in the second envy, none is curiosity.
If you've lost this through your adult life now is the time to start bringing curiosity back. Train this behavior daily and you will start to enjoy your life more as curiosity is considered one of the best antidotes for depression and anxiety.
I know we tend to live our lives trying to prove we are self sufficient and we need no other thing to report to than our own wishes. From time to time try to integrate moments to become aware of all the wonders around us, from a landscape, to animal or people behaviors, to seeing our loved one as a complete person we know so little about.
Keep your mind in focus with permanent learning and try to have each year the time to learn a new subject, completely different that what you have done until now. This is something I always did without thinking too much about the impact. For example I remember learning about How to raise horses, Neurology in everyday life, History of rock music, etc.
So, what are you waiting for to be more curious?
