Why I Urge You to Be MORE Curious ’bout Life
Why? Because, believe it or not, curiosity is expressing Who You Are – your strengths, weaknesses, all. Yes, being yourself is really being curious about who you can be. And I shall attempt to show you this in 400 words or less. Curious?…
About Curiosity
Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
– Samuel Johnson
Curiosity did not kill the cat!
The cause of its death was very much misreported, causing quite some confusion down the centuries about the benefits of curiosity. (It was worry that done it. True.)
And there are many, believe me, many – benefits of curiosity, that is.
But don’t just believe me, and my easily pleased mind, even Albert Einstein knew about the unlimited potential behind curiosity:
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
Albert Einstein
Or, as I might put it, curiosity is recognising the true nature of our very existence: ever-changing, and new every moment.
So to NOT be curious is to imagine you actually know what’s coming next, is to imagine you know who you are going to be. (Newsflash: you don’t. You just think you do.)
Yes, curiosity is a natural state of being. Just watch any young child playing, investigating, wondering. Curiosity is our natural state – one that, in time alas, we become more and more careful with.
“Hey, I heard that curiosity is a killer. Better be careful!”. Nonsense.
Don’t Just Be Curious About The Good Stuff, Though
Interestingly, it seems far easier to be curious about meeting a new person (even if their attire seems off-putting to you), or being in a new day (even though it looks like another rainy Monday) or seeing new things (even though they look smaller in real life), than it does to be curious about unpleasant things like, er, pain.
Yeah, I don’t hear too many people (‘cept the likes of Jeff Foster) encouraging curiosity when it comes to the following (BAD things):
- Fearfulness,
- Anger,
- Hatred
And nobody’s gonna go there when it comes to being curious about depression, say – are you crazy!
But, truth is, we NEVER experience the same moment, or feeling, or person the same way more than once. NEVER! It is always subtly different, we are always subtly different, and so there is always something to be curious about. Always.
But, hey I’m just a soft-headed Englishman, don’t just take my word for it, be curious about curiosity whydontya. Be curious about curiosity – it might just well surprise you.
Curiosity – 3 Minute Heroes Video
Here’s what came to me as I shared my thoughts on this topic during a 3 Minute Heroes video I recorded in December, 2014:
A Coaching Conversation Might Help
Reading blog posts is good. Watching videos is good, too. But sometimes having a meaningful conversation about the issue you're experiencing is best. To experience a transformative coaching conversation where you get to ask YOUR questions, and to experience YOUR insights. Well, I can help you with that...