The Value of Curiosity - How to Cultivate it
Curiosity is the desire to fill a gap in our knowledge or the drive to learn something new.
It is related to an inquisitive way of thinking that includes exploration, investigation and learning. Curiosity is also associated with our personal development, and it facilitates a deeper connection to ourselves, others and the world around us.
Using curiosity in our lives is a way for us to reduce moments of uncertainty and ambiguity, by gathering information and knowledge. And learning new things can also be perceived by our brains as a reward that we are highly motivated to receive.
Benefits of cultivating curiosity
Using curiosity in your life and work can bring so many valuable benefits.
It improves your ability to make decisions and solve problems
It increases your engagement and boosts your performance
It supports collaboration and teamwork
It increases your resilience and improves the way you manage uncertainty and change
It increases your ability to manage stress and pressure
It heightens your senses, and as a result, you will experience positive emotions more intensely
It leads to more moments of creativity and to more innovative and new ideas
And probably my favorite benefit: curiosity acts as a counterpart to anxiety and fear. This doesn’t mean you won’t experience worry or doubt when you try a new thing, but being curious and working towards learning something that you are interested in can help you look at the positive consequences of you trying, instead of the negative ones. How amazing is that?
Curiosity about yourself
Cultivating curiosity in the relationship with ourselves can help us develop our self-awareness and self-understanding. This approach can support us in being more honest and authentic with ourselves when it comes to our thoughts, emotions, needs and desired.
Schedule some time to do some self-reflection work in different areas related to yourself.
Thoughts, emotions, behaviours
For example, instead of using self-criticism and punishing yourself mentally, next time you made a mistake, failed to meet an expectation or did not perform the way you wanted to, try to explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
Why is this thought coming to my mind now?
What could have brought it on?
Why am I feeling this way right now?
What is this emotion trying to tell me?
What can I learn from this emotion?
Why did I behave the way I did?
What could have influenced me?
What can I do differently, so next time I can have an improved behavior?
Goals and preferences
Why do I like what I like (for example: in my work, in the activities that I do in my free time, in my self-care routine, in how I think about my hobbies)?
What is on my list of future goals that I want to take positive steps towards? What obstacles are in my way and how can I overcome them?
How do I want my life to be like in 1 year? What about in 5? What can I start doing today to get closer to that vision?
Needs and boundaries
Where do I need more support?
How can I meet my emotional, mental, physical and spiritual needs?
How can I express what I want and need more often and more clearly?
Curiosity in our relationships
Curiosity can help you deepen your relationships.
Use curiosity to get to know the ones around you better and take your relationships to a deeper level. There are certainty so many interesting and fascinating things about your loved ones that you can still discover. Invest time to have meaningful conversations with the important people in your life and use curiosity and openness.
Ask them about:
Their favorite memories from their past
The difficult choices they had to make
Surprising stories that they can remember
What brings them joy, happiness, purpose
What changes they would want to make in their lives
Curiosity can help you in difficult discussions.
Sometimes it is hard to adapt to certain communication situations. Curiosity can help us navigate difficult conversations and conflicts. How can you apply it?
Try to be honest and genuinely interested throughout the entire discussion
Try not to make assumptions and judgments about what the other person is experiencing
Try to actively listen and understand, instead of trying to find a way to respond
Ask questions that would help bring clarity in the conversation: “What are you feeling right now?”; “Why do you think you are feeling this way”
Try to use empathy and offer your support: “What can I do to support you right now”; “What do you need from me?”; “How can we move on from here together?”
Curiosity about life
Learning from negative events
Life is sprinkled with uncertainty, change and negative events. The way we react when we are faced with them, makes a huge difference. Using curiosity can help in this case as well. You can ask yourself:
Why is this negative event happening to me right now?
What am I supposed to learn from it?
How can I grow by dealing with this difficult thing?
What can I learn from this experience and use in the future?
Transform mundane situations
Using curiosity in boring situations, mundane events, or daily tasks that you don’t like so much can transform them into interesting experiences. You can do this by immersing yourself in your environment, being present and using your senses to look for details that you would normally not notice. Try to observe the colours that you see, the objects that are present, the patterns that you can find. Intentionally motivate your mind and attention to be playful in these situations.
There are so many ways to cultivate curiosity, and it can bring so many benefits to our wellbeing and happiness while supporting our growth and knowledge expansion. In the end, I will leave you with the quote below.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality.
- Edmund Burke
30-Min. Free Online Exploration Session
If you are curious to discover even more ways in which you can cultivate curiosity and how to implement it in your learning process so you can experience all its benefits, get in touch. We can schedule a 30 min. online free session to discuss your needs and goals and find ways to personalize this process so you can get the most out of it.