Curiosity can be extremely helpful during the unearthing of the thoughts and feelings that are causing you discomfort/suffering. Here I want to discuss the two main advantages of curiosity which are; 1) Automatic dis-identification and 2) Root cause discovery.
Automatic Dis-identification
You cannot be both curious about and identified with your mind at the same time. When we are identified with the mind, which means believing it, trying to figure it out, trying to please it or doing anything to stop, block out or resist what you are feeling in the moment, you are fueling it through your attention /identification with it.
The second you become curious about what you are experiencing you have cut the fuel supply to the discomfort/suffering through dis-identification to it. For you to be curious you have to be detached from the ‘goings on’ of the mind and you have to allow your thoughts and feelings to arise freely while observing objectively. This is what curiosity is, it’s a passive state. This could easily be mistaken for trying to find a solution to your minds perceived problems but this would be counter-productive as you would be getting actively involved thus feeding the suffering cycle. Curiosity is passive and relaxed whereas trying to solve the minds problems is active and stressful.
Root Cause Discovery
Feelings that are not dealt with properly (felt, expressed and released) don’t leave us. They get stored as energy in our being and they get triggered by different external events throughout our lives until they are released and allowed to flow freely.
For example, if you had an experience that caused fear to arise and through a poor understanding of how feelings work, you resisted this fear which means it couldn't flow freely through you, then it would be stuck in your being. Now similar situations that you perceive as fearful would trigger this energy (fear) in you, each time adding to its intensity as a result of the attention (fuel) given to it. So the root cause of the fear would be the initial event that caused it to arise and the other events are just triggering it. This is how minor situations can trigger intense feelings and reactions from people. Feelings get compounded over time.
Curiosity allows you to feel the feeling itself without getting caught up in the situation that triggered it. This in turn allows for memories and realizations of the root cause to come through as you are no longer focused on the trigger.
It is not necessary to uncover the root cause of anything in order to allow its release but it can be a real eye opener to realise that the same feelings are getting triggered over and over again disguised as external events in your life.
