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Curiosity

Writer's picture: StephenStephen

Last week we started an 8-week series based on the 8 Cs of Self-Leadership from the IFS-Institute and their founder, Dr. Richard Swartz (Calm, Curiosity, Confidence, Compassion, Creativity, Courage, Clarity, and Connectedness). My desire is for this series to help us create some positive focus as we move forward into 2025.


I hope last week's message on Calm came to your mind throughout the week and you were able to put it into practice. This week, we turn our attention to Curiosity.


Curiosity

You may recall that one of the objectives of these 8 Cs is to think about them from a perspective of movement. In this case, it may be as simple as asking, How can I increase Curiosity in my life?


Allow me to illustrate this by reminding you about The Beginner's Mind (a concept from Buddhism made popular in the 1970's from the book, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and which I've written about before). The basic concept here is to approach life with a general sense of curiosity and willingness to learn, rather than coming from a perspective of being closed, certain, or even judgmental. The closed/certain/judgmental perspective says, "I don't really want to know anything about that" (closed), or "I already know everything I need to know about that" (certain/judgmental). In contrast, the posture of Curiosity is one of openness and a willingness to continue learning. 


Now, let me point out an important phrase in what I just wrote - continue learning. One of the beautiful things about embracing a posture and movement toward greater Curiosity in our lives is, we don't have to forget everything we may have already learned! We get to bring all of that with us and couple it with a sense of continuing to be open to learning more or seeing things from a different perspective.


If you've spent any time with me, you may have noticed that one of the phrases I tend to use a lot (maybe too much at times!) is, "That's Interesting!" This has actually become a very important phrase for me in the past several years as I have tried to embrace a greater posture of Curiosity in my life. I think some of it stems from trying to break free from some old patterns and institutions in my life where certainty was a very high priority and virtue to be achieved. But I am finding so much more beauty and creativity in life as I shift from having to be certain, and instead, work to embrace greater and greater Curiosity in my life.


How about you? Are there areas of your life where you are tempted to approach it from a more closed or certain perspective? How could you shift to being more Curious in that area? Or what about people? Are there certain individuals or groups of people you are tempted to put into categories or labels? How could you shift your perspective to engage with them with greater Curiosity? And finally, what about yourself? Are you quick to allow the voice of self-judgement and criticism to come in? How could you use Curiosity to generate more grace and kindness toward yourself?


Here's to being more Curious this week!


Be Well,

Stephen


Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

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