My beloved Grandmother used to tell me that "pofta vine mancand" which means "appetite comes while eating". What that meant was that sometimes in order to get a taste for something, you must start doing it. This applies to a slew of things in our lives, reaching far beyond eating :)
One thing I always wondered about is curiosity. To me, curiosity is a fascinating trait, common to all animals as far as I know, and directly related to newness.
When I think curiosity, the following words and ideas come to mind - playfulness, newness, attention grabber, being present, openness, vulnerability, and courage - and the beautiful thing is that either one of those can trigger our curious minds to begin wandering, exploring, and sometimes fully dive into the newness, daring the unknown.
When you're certain of all things, you forget about exploring. Without exploring there is no discovery. When discovering is missing, the roots overtake the wings. When the wings are clipped, there is no flight. When bound to the ground, there is no bird's eye view of all things. How can you be so certain then, that curiosity ever killed the cat?
There is a LOT to write about the relationship between Curiosity and the Unknown. What makes us curious in the first place? What triggers it, or what keeps it active in order to activate us and prompt us to reach outside of our bubble and into the unknown?
If we see someone performing a task, we might be curious how they are doing that, and then either try it ourselves or simply move on.
If we encounter a space we have never seen before, we might get curious to explore it; a thrift store comes to mind, or a bookstore. There is curiosity there, and treasure hunting too.
No matter what form of stimuli pulls our awareness and focus, we seem to be attracted to the unknown in a mix of intellectual and emotional dance-like ritual.
We rarely just dive in; we generally observe, try to get a "sense" of that which presents itself as an unknown, and we tap into our internal resources to navigate it as we enter it.
Curiosity is like a magnet as we feel attracted to one thing or another. We can be curious about a new culture, a person, a new food, a new activity, or....simply be in a curious state of mind, feeling alive through every minute interaction we experience with the world around us and the world within us.
Curiosity is a form of reaching inward and outward, expanding into life, enhancing and exulting the sense of being alive.
When it comes to Movement, curiosity is vital. When we move, we don't just displace air. When we move, our thoughts move, our emotions stir, our bodies awaken. Movement is life, and in our bodies we can experience it at any and all levels.
For me, as a Martial Arts practitioner and as an Instructor, curiosity is the thread that moves me forward. It is a river that collects virtually infinite streams as it twists and turns through the landscape of my life, becoming stronger, carrying with it memories, experiences, and dreams.
In training, when I reach my hand out, it expresses my curiosity of things to come and it demands an acute awareness of presence - both myself and my partners. When an attack comes, my curiosity turns it into a challenging puzzle of physical, mental, and emotional proportions.
In movement I am alive and through movement I am living. This can only happen through an everlasting curiosity which can only thrive if my mind is present in each moment.
In our world, a modern world filled with technology, noise, and demands and entertainment, our curiosity can also lead us astray. Our curious minds can jump from one thing to another (monkey mind as my mentor used to call it), or can be sucked in and entrapped - a very common side-effect of entertainment, in whichever form it may come.
This means that in our quest for newness, we seek to be entertained, pleased, informed, delighted, exulted. It also means that we have the option to let our curiosity drive us, or have the opportunity to guide our curiosity and give specificity to our explorations. In other words, we can use curiosity as an instrument, helping us navigate the vastness of time and space of our lives, enabling us to envision journeys and destinations at the speed of thought.
In curiosity we open ourselves to all there is, and in this mindset of playfulness we engage in a powerful learning dynamic that expands us into the world, connecting us with everything. In Movement, all of it can happen with a simple tilt of our head, a wavering of our hand, a thought reaching for understanding, a response arising from an action, a reply to a question.
Ultimately, curiosity is an invitation. If we answer it with an open mind, honestly and bravely, it will lead us towards discovery. If we allow ourselves to be vulnerable in the journey towards discovery, then nothing can derail our learning because we inquire from a stance of knowing where we start from and where we are going towards.
But what if...we are not curious?
In that case, we must ask ourselves a question. Why are we not curious?
And THAT, is curiosity. It starts by doing it. Curiosity can start with the simplest of questions, leading us from one question to another.
In the second part of this article, I will write about our kids and a specific mindset I observed where kids do not express curiosity, or, their curiosity has reached such specificity that everything else but one thing has faded into a lack of interest.
For us, as parents or educators, capturing our youth's interest in a creative and productive manner is one of the most stringent and relevant parts of what we do and how we connect with the young in our lives.
Should you wish to join me in conversation, here is where you'll find me: KineOasis Community
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