Why Curiosity Matters

Australia was relatively untouched by Covid-19 for a long time. But here in Sydney, we’ve been in lockdown for some months now, and in Melbourne it has been even longer. While speaking at a recent online event, someone asked me how to tackle the mundane, how to handle living the same day over and over, groundhog style.

My answer partly focused on gratitude, that is, looking out for new things to be grateful for each day. But it’s also about bringing a fresh perspective and a sense of curiosity to everyday life.?

We’re interacting with the same people, in the same environment, doing the same exercises and feeding the dog at the same time every day. So can we find something new in the intimately familiar?

There’s a bushwalk near my house that I’ve hiked hundreds of times over the 17 years I’ve lived here. Yet every time I do the walk I see, hear, or experience something different. Bringing a sense of curiosity to life is refreshing and soul-fulfilling, it allows us to see the new and can make even the most routine of life’s daily minutiae feel fresh.

We tend to see and experience the familiar as we’ve experienced it before, defaulting to what we know of it rather than staying present in the moment and looking out for the new.

How can we cultivate more curiosity and discover this newness?

Here’s one way: intentionally connect with your five senses. When you’re out walking, spend some time focusing on what you can see. Pause and really look at what’s around, the tiny flowers close up, the mist, the clouds or the mountain range in the distance, the height and shape of the trees. Or in an urban area, perhaps it’s the shape of the buildings, the colours of the houses, the flowers in the garden beds.?

Then shift your attention to what you can hear. Listen out for the pitch, tone, and volume of the sounds you can hear. Notice whether the sounds are nearby or far away, if there are any gaps between the sounds, or how they overlap. Then bring that same sense of curiosity to what you can feel: the air moving against your skin, the temperature, or the texture of your clothing. Consider the sensations in your body and how those feel: tingling, movement, stillness, tightness, flowing or dense sensations and so on.?Likewise, be open to the experience of smell and taste.

Mindfulness can develop our ability to notice the new in the familiar and boost our curiosity. It can help us connect to our inner selves and approach the world in a whole new way. Children are naturally curious, stopping to examine every twig or rock, because everything is fresh and new. As adults, we largely lose this level of interest and excitement. ?

Mindfulness can develop our ability to notice the new in the familiar and boost our curiosity.

Becoming mindful of bodily sensations helps us gain insight into ourselves and how we approach the world. I remember waiting outside a venue for a business meeting to start. I’d arrived early and rather than scroll through my phone, I decided to scroll through my body’s sensations. In doing so, I noticed the tightness in my stomach, the wobbly knees. Becoming more aware of the nerves, I used the remaining few minutes to intentionally invite in a sense of calm, breathing slightly deeper and releasing some of the tension I was holding.

Without curiosity of what I was experiencing, I’m certain I would have unknowingly brought that tension to the meeting. Identifying sensations in the body is a well-known mindfulness practice. To try it out, you can use this 15-minute body scan practice.

Curiosity, perspective and innovation

You may have heard the expression ‘get curious not furious’, and applying the same principle in our work and home lives means avoiding unnecessary conflicts. Curiosity and mindfulness also combine to cultivate an innovative mindset. A mindset that helps us reframe problems, to see if there is a better approach, to challenge assumptions and to put ourselves in others’ shoes and see issues or opportunities from their perspective. It allows us to identify our biases and see how they limit us and others.

Imagine the benefits this could bring to our leadership, parenting, or personal relationships. As Stephen Covey said: ‘seek first to understand before being understood.’ Seeking to understand involves curiosity, it involves engaging fully and remaining open-minded. While curiosity won’t make lockdown shorter, it certainly can make it more interesting. You can approach work, family, and life with a curious mindset and benefit from it.?

Perhaps Albert Einstein said it best: ’The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day.’

Remain curious, even if that curiosity is focused on the most minor of events — who knows what you’ll discover.

Learn more by watching the Curiosity episode of The Mindful Minute:

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Jenny Steadman is a Senior Consultant and Facilitator with?Potential Project, a global consulting firm on a mission to make work feel more human. In this new world of work, people are focused, calm and resilient, even happy at work.?There is time for connection and compassion for one another, even on the busiest days. This new world begins inside, in the mind.?Jenny has a long-time practice of mindfulness, which, combined with her background in strategy and leadership development, makes her well placed to support people to perform at their highest, be resilient, and innovative.

To know more, contact Jenny at [email protected] or via her website: www.jennysteadman.com.au