Curiosity didn’t kill the Cat!

The Harvard Business review featured a Curiosity Quiz; a scientifically validated test to establish aspects of your curiosity linked to thinking, learning and experiences. After completing this test my results didn’t really surprise me that much. What did surprise me was how I compared to the HBR.ORG average respondents. Now one can assume that more curious and creative people might seek out such a experiment, but for example I scored a fair amount lower in the “Thinking” category, scoring a Flexible thinker tag instead of a unconventional thinker one. Now this might not be bad, and I do see the advantage of being a flexible thinker but I do consider myself to be a out the box, sometimes “unconventional” thinker.
My other scores included: Interested in Learning, Seek new experiences and relationships. Now this makes perfect sense and here I scored higher than the HBR.ORG averages. When I think of the concepts of “Interested in learning” and “seeking new experiences” I need not look far to find the pinnacle of these concepts in a everyday setting. Enter my new life with a 7 and 5 year old!!
Chris Wire in his TEDxDayton illustrates how we can learn a lot from children, how they can come up with exciting new ideas,
challenge EVERYTHING!…
and have a natural state of curious… EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY!!! Now you might have picked up my exhaustive gasps as I was uttering those words but in all honesty I wouldn’t want it any other way! They are absolutely amazing and I have learned so much in the relatively short time I have shared my days with them.

Which Door will you choose?
It was more like the Rabbit hole from the Alice in Wonderland tale!
I found it really difficult to get context about the theme of the article and found myself hopelessly wandering around the lines of the article, like a kitten lost in the jungle. I kept coming back to sections, focusing on finishing the piece and restraining from clicking any of the links. Maybe this was the point? Keep clicking till something grabs my attention! SH#T did I just fail one of my first lesson tasks???
ok Seriously though…The Article talked about Memory, our recollection of memories and the cultural expectations of these memories. Traditionally we have been taught to nurture memories and always think of the positive ones, but the author seems to raise the point that in fact memories are the catalysts to self development and growth.
“the vast majority of life unfolds in the small, unremembered moments that furnish the microscopic threads in the tapestry of being.” (Popova, Online.)
“The exercise of our memory does not bring us closer to the past but draws us farther away.” (Mann, Unknown.)
To be honest I’m still confused…and curious!

CULTIVATING CURIOSITY!
for my cabinet of curiosities I chose:
8 HABITS OF CURIOUS PEOPLE by Stephanie Vozza: This article touched on some very interesting points (or Habits) and for most of them I felt that I already applied them, at least in some form, to my daily life and creative outputs: LISTEN WITHOUT JUDGEMENT, ASK QUESTIONS, BEING FULLY PRESENT, WILLING TO BE WRONG, MAKING TIME TO BE CURIOUS, ADMITTING YOU DON’T KNOW AND SEEKING SURPRISE.
But luckily 1 of them stood out as something that I could improve on: THEY DON’T LET PAST HURTS AFFECT THEIR FUTURE. Now this is a big struggle for me on a personal level, I’m a bit of a unforgiving warrior! Especially when it comes to injustices to family or animals! But this could be a great learning experience and perhaps the biggest growth in my Curiosity journey. Now don’t get me wrong I do think I am a rational human, and I can forgive and forget, but maybe sometimes, on a subconscious level, I let this affect me.
ART OF CURIOSITY by Ian Sanders: “I was a quiet child. I mostly liked to observe from the edges, rather than participate fully, watching those around me, taking it all in.” This really resonated with me, and although I didn’t consider myself a quiet child, I am still to this day a extremely observant person. It actually drove my Ex-girlfriend quite mad! I do agree with Ian that this curiosity and ability to observe creates a foundation for creative thinking and output. I am forever getting inspired by everything I see, hear, smell, taste and feel!

My Curiosity strategy!
So even as we start this journey towards creative inquiry, I have already realised how this process can be very beneficial to my MCI and creativity.
1) Becoming slightly more of a free thinker… I do sometimes find comfort in routine and predictability, but it’s always a fine line as I get bored very quickly, So I will encompass this in my blogging.
2) Take more risks or experiment in my music production and introduce random elements. I have already planned fro this through the Creative Practitioner module as I have identified this workflow from one of my favourite producers.
3) Find new music to listen too. I will endeavour to pick random playlists from streaming platforms to broaden my musical influence.
4)…
This is a work in progress and I look forward to fine tune my strategy and keep growing.
REFERENCE LIST:
Papova, M. (n.d). Brain Picking: A Pioneering Scientist on Memory, the Value of Our Unremembered Work, and the Incalculable Sum Total of the Human Experience. [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.brainpickings.org/