In mindfulness meditation, the encouragement is to get curious about whatever experiences that arise, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This means with a beginner’s mind, noticing what is felt, where, how intense, what happens next, how we tend to react, and less about the “why”. By doing so, we’re allowing ourselves to process our emotions instead of judging and resisting which only compounds suffering. We’re less concerned about the “why” because emotions and sensations come and go – they’re impermanent and intangible.
Curiosity, by Alastair Reid (extract)
Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die
– only lack of it will.
Never to want to see the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
would kill us all.
Only the curious have, if they live,
a tale worth telling at all.
Guide: Noelle Lim
Image credit: Manja Vitolic, Unsplash
Kindermind Center 