But Why?

                       
How much time do you spend on being curious? How much of your day is eaten up by predictable activities, routines or chores you can do without thinking? How much time do you invest in your day on things you really like to do or things you really want to know or learn about?

Perhaps we don’t need to limit ourselves to a once-in-a-century solar eclipse to stay in wonder and awe. If we can stop ourselves from expecting or assuming that things will be a certain way, we allow openness to new discoveries of something unexpected or unfamiliar to appear or happen where we did not think or care to look. From the unfamiliar arise new emotional experiences.

Being curious is a link to many life-expanding experiences. When we are truly interested, listen fully, and go deeper, we build instant connections with others. We may discover new aspects of people we thought we knew, and often when others sense that we are truly interested in what they say or think, they will offer us much more than we expected.
Many people want to be interesting to others, but being interested may bring about more connection, attention, and opportunities than merely being interesting.

When we are curious, we are motivated to learn. Learning means being open to different points of view. When we are willing to consider a different point of view, we don’t judge as quickly. For every new thing we learn, we create a new string to our own library of knowledge, memories, and experiences. That makes us smarter.

And how about your self? Most of us spend too much time navel gazing, analyzing what we are doing, concerned with how others see us, or stressing over what to do next to be successful. Yet try to take a look at yourself from afar, with curiosity and wonder, and see what questions come up. Why did a certain experience affect you that way or lead you do x? We are not looking for problems from childhood, but just applying a fresh look from a curious angle as if you are standing outside yourself looking in. What drives you? What excites you?
The reasons can wait. Just look and see and listen. And feel what makes you happy or excited. Then consider letting in more of that.

We can make our daily humdrum more colorful by intentionally injecting a spoonful of curiosity. Why do you not like to do the dishes? Is it the running water, the dirt, the time it takes, because it is boring, or something else? You could do the dishes as if they were just invented as a new social experiment. A sense of wonder might take over, you will wonder about other times, the past, the future, yourself in it, and your own specific preferences and dislikes. There is enough wonder in the dirty dishes to last at least a day. Imagine what else is possible to rediscover, learn about, or appreciate in a new way.

We can’t be curious about things we don’t know exist, so we are curious about what we already know something about. But as we know, just because we can’t see it does not mean it does not exist. Imagine discovering regularly how much more there is to everything than each of us can know. Whether it is social, intellectual, global, creative, abstract, or life curiosity, become a sleuth, dig, ask, read, observe, listen, touch, ask questions, find ideas, be puzzled, ponder, wonder, and share. Let yourself be surprised.

Consider carrying a notebook or journal to which you commit to document one thing daily you just learned, discovered, or re-discovered.

Being curious gives us perspective. It keeps us out of conflict. It helps us control our emotional responses. It enriches our relationships. It can make our lives richer.

What are you waiting for? I mean it. I really want to know. 
Please ask me back.

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.”
Bernard Baruch