Why is it so powerful? It is one habit that can help you immensely in expanding your life and your circumstance. Ambiguity in what we hear, read, or face is a precursor to curiosity. Doubt, confusion, or lack of understanding are characteristics of ambiguity.
We need to be curious in many situations. When we need to learn more yet don’t have things right in front of us to learn from forcing us to search a bit. Stumbling around until we understand what we are asking for or need to specifically learn. Not sure of what we are looking for but go from this website to the next until our thoughts and ideas become clearer. It is not necessarily the most efficient type of learning but very powerful when it comes from within you.
Our curiosity becomes powerful when we have the maturity to admit that “we don’t know” or “we don’t know enough” to either make a decision or continue further.
Curiosity fueled by ambiguity can be very revealing and helpful. But when ambiguity crystallizes into doubt and our doubt gains strength, curiosity runs away and hides from us. In addition, when certainty makes us feel strong, curiosity also runs away and hides from us. Without curiosity, there can be no exploration. Engagement with others also involves an open exploration in developing a relationship. “Give and take” is another form of exploration where curiosity can poke at the boundaries and constraints to find an acceptable resolution.
We often impulsively reject another person’s perspective to “win” a debate. Being curious will help you first understand another position before deciding on how certain you are in your understanding or beliefs to effectively move forward.
Curiosity acknowledges that there can be many sides to an issue, filled with nuance, and accepts the possibility that we may be missing facts or information that would change our perspective once learned. Every person we encounter gives us an opportunity to be curious and learn something new by hearing about their thoughts & knowledge built on their different life experiences.
Use curiosity to help you expand your life. You may end up seeing, trying, or visiting things you never thought were possible. Incorporating more curiosity in our lives will definitely help enrich our lives in many surprising ways during our short life’s journey.