Ten Ways to Spark Your Curiosity
Many aspects of our world pull us toward accumulating certainties. Yet I wonder if the healthiest place to live might be in a fundamental mindset of curiosity.
Curiosity is the posture of people who have found themselves at home with the balance between knowing and not knowing. We collect facts and information and have access to more knowledge and data than ever before in human history. But even one of the most revered intellects of our era hedged on the superiority of knowledge.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world…”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity….Don’t stop to marvel.”
— Albert Einstein
Curious people aren’t opposed to facts or truth. They suspect there is more to know, more to consider, more to experience. A truly curious person isn’t easily satisfied with the first answer. Rather, they beg the question, “Could there be more?” There is a healthy suspicion that there is more at play than we can see at first or second or third glance.
Curious people seem to be instinctively optimistic.
Optimism and curiosity go hand-in-hand. Optimism is choosing to find possibility in an unknown future. Curiosity is the path we walk.
When someone chooses to ask questions, dig in, and explore what is beyond their understanding…that is curiosity. Curious people hold lightly their conclusions, yet take seriously the questions that lie just below the surface and are begging to be asked.
When we seek to understand the perspective, experience, or beliefs of someone else, we do this best from a posture of curiosity. With openness, withholding judgment, and seeking to understand.
Here are ten ways you can spark curiosity.
Ten ways to start a sentence and take a posture of curiosity about anything, from your own mind to the people and world around you.
- I wonder…
- What if…
- What would it be like to…
- How can we…
- Maybe it would…
- Could it be…
- Suppose you had…
- What would you do if…
- Imagine for a minute…
- Let’s try…
Curiosity is a choice. Curiosity is a way of seeing.
Curiosity is a discipline. Curiosity is feeling and thinking.
Curiosity is a spiritual practice. Curiosity is a posture.
Curiosity is a springboard. Curiosity is a way of navigating the world.
