curiosity – Kindermind Center

The quality of curiosity encourages us to observe thoughts, feelings and sensations without judgment, thus allowing us to see or appreciate more what is going on with compassion and acceptance. When we’re curious, we’re more likely to pay attention to the details of our experiences, fostering a more vivid awareness of the here and now. Curiosity also encourages us to be open to all experiences that arise without needing to resist or avoid. When we slow down to be curious, we interrupt the reactive process, giving us the pause to be more open-minded and to choose more skilful responses, thus transforming how we usually relate to our experiences.

The Quest For Wonder

In the heart of the night, where shadows play,
Lies a quest for wonder, in the break of day.
Curiosity, a lantern held high,
Illuminating secrets, hidden in the sky.

A path untraveled, a story untold,
In the quest for wonder, the world unfolds.
An unquenchable thirst, a desire to know,
In the garden of curiosity, wonders grow.

Guide: Noelle Lim

Image credit: Paul Hanaoka, Unsplash

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