The Lessons of curiosity

In this final blog for this month, I wanted to recap some of our thinking about our subject of curiosity and draw out some key ideas that I hope will help you.

Now the word “lesson” may not inspire you too much. Maybe school is or was a place that wasn’t easy or the idea of learning life lessons is something that fills you with dread rather than hope. So I’d like to use your imagination for a while.

I’m very struck that so many of life’s great discoveries, questions and lessons have come from curiosity. Many of the things we take for granted have come from people who were first willing to be curious and want to find out more.

Ask Questions

On one side of the room is the great thinker of philosopher Voltaire who once said:

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

Questioning is one of the great lessons from our exploration of curiosity. If we are willing to ask ‘why?’ we can discover so many things. We can ask why something exists. We can consider why something has happened. For our wellbeing, a very helpful lesson is to ask why I feel an emotion or why I am anxious about something. Our video this week is called ‘Catch it, Check it, Change it’ and explores exactly that theme.

WHAT IF?

Our next teacher, Michelle Obama wants to add to this idea. In her book ‘Becoming’ she suggests:

“Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?”

If we are willing to ask questions then we can begin to consider possibilities. Sometimes ‘what if?’ can be a question of longing or frustration. However, ‘what if’ and ‘why not’ also have the possibility to unlock a better future for all of us. If we are willing to be positive and consider questions of what if - we can see a better world, we can act on our dreams and we can work for a world that feels better for us.

Our audio reflection looks at this idea today.

AMAZING PEOPLE AND AMAZING WORLD

Here, two more teachers raise their voice. Writer and author Ray Bradbury shares with us:

“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.”

Then poet WB Yeats adds another idea, that:

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

These are wonderful lessons. That we can consider and see the beauty of the world around and the incredible wonder of the human beings we share life with. If we begin to practice this each day we can begin to understand the concept of “taking notice” which is one of MIND’s Five Ways to Wellbeing.

We can also begin to cultivate a sense of gratefulness from our curiosity, something that is now proven to have a positive effect on our wellbeing (Harvard Health.)

Authenticity

We leave our final lesson to Brene Brown. Brene is someone who inspires us here at Space to Breathe and who we’ve referred to often. In her book ‘The Gifts of Imperfection’ she raises a wonderful idea which she brings to our classroom now.

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”

Being authentic is a very important but very scary element of growing in our wellbeing. Key to this idea though is being able to be honest and see ourselves clearly. Curiosity helps us here as we are able to be interested enough in the details of our own lives and to be mindful of them - that we can then share them with others, so we “let our true selves be seen.”

The wonder we see in curiosity is not just nature, the world or in others, its also the wonder of who you are. You are worthy to be see too.

LESSONS FROM CURIOSITY

Well I hope this lesson has been enjoyable. Our teachers - Voltaire, Michelle Obama, Ray Bradbury, WB Yeats and Brene Brown have taught us four ideas from curiosity:

• That asking questions helps us in our wellbeing.

• That what if and why not are the beginnings of a better future.

• That wonder leads to taking notice and gratefulness.

• That authenticity is a recognition of the wonder of us as well as seeing the wonder of others.

I hope these four ideas can help you grow and flourish in your own wellbeing too.