Four Ways to Boost Your Curiosity

Kids have an irrepressible sense of curiosity. To them, the world is new, and they’re very keen to learn all about it. It’s no coincidence that children are so full of creative energy.

Sadly, as we age, most of us lose this sense of wonder in the world. We become naturally acclimatized to our environment and, when we’re embroiled in stressful environments with constant demands on our time and attention, there is little wiggle room for things we might otherwise be interested in to grab our attention. A stressed mind is so also a static mind; wilted and depleted, the burned-out brain no longer seeks the nourishing light of learning.

So, how do you reconnect with that curiosity when your natural child-like wonder sometimes seems to belong to a past life?

There are some ways to boost your curiosity.

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1. Ask ‘why’ more

We all still carry inside us a natural flame of curiosity; we just need to recapture the flair for fanning that flame again.

Asking ‘why?’ more frequently is one of the simplest and most effective ways of doing just that.

Follow your instincts. Maybe you feel the slightest whisper of curiosity while, for example, commuting to work on the train. This might appear in any form: a question about how wind turbines work after spotting one through the window, or a flicker of interest in the subject of a book you’ve noticed someone reading. Instead of allowing that curiosity to ebb and dissipate without recognition, act on it!

It’s just one little question, but the impact of asking why more might just lead you down roads you never could have anticipated – and reawaken your curiosity in the process.

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2. Start seeing again

Once upon a time, the world seemed rich and vibrant. Now the mundane is invisible – in fact, even the exciting can become unremarkable through the drudgery of familiarity.

How can you recapture some of this wonder? The first step is to start seeing again.

Rather than letting your surroundings wash over you without real thought or note, take time to notice what you’re seeing.

The real idea is to start turning up your awareness so you can rediscover what surrounds you, connect with it and, by doing so, re-spark your own curiosity.

After all, it’s hard to follow your natural curiosity when you’re blind to what’s going on – but learning to see again all the interesting things that surround you is a great way to reconnect with your natural inquisitiveness.

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3. Follow the thoughts

We often don’t pay attention to the ways thoughts rise and form in our minds, especially as we usually fly through them so quickly. Stressed and overburdened as we often are, we rarely allow ourselves the pleasure of burrowing into ideas or topics we find truly interesting.

While following your thoughts might sound like a risk when it comes to overthinking, the trick is learning which thoughts to give momentum to and which to leave idle. Really, this is exactly the kind of thing we’re missing from day-to-day life when tangled up in the minutia of working life.

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4. Welcome discomfort

As hard a pill as it might be to swallow, getting outside your comfort zone brings great rewards. It also naturally promotes curiosity.

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t have to mean taking up an extreme sport; instead, it’s about taking on the small things you’d usually avoid – and looking for more opportunities to do just that.

These little baby steps out of your comfort zone can whet your curiosity to discover more, uncover new experiences and generally awaken you to the creative power of being a little more inquisitive.

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When we breeze through life we lose so much. Make more time for idling now and then.

Read more in ‘The Focus Fix’ by Chris Griffiths and Caragh Medlicott : https://bit.ly/3R6W0y1