Curiosity is a superpower!
It’s a desire to know and understand.
Curiosity has a self-sustaining fire that fuels us to learn and grow, which reflects a spark of life that we all feel at some level of our being.
The power of curiosity is a spark of life that feeds us to grow… and is extremely helpful when it comes to self-knowledge, emotional transformation and inner freedom.
When we’re stressed, anxious or emotionally reactive for example, engaging an attitude of curiosity shifts our state of mind from being consumed by our emotions to where we can feel and observe them in a way where we’re not avoiding or by-passing them, but alchemizing them for true growth.
In this blog post I’m going to talk about how the power of curiosity can be a powerful pathway to transform your emotions and connect to your heart.
Understanding Your Emotions
Let’s take a few moments to first understand emotions.
When we’re consumed by reactive emotions, we don’t think clearly, we feel disconnected from our heart and the people we care about.
When this happens, our emotions are ruling us. Meaning, we’re essentially a victim to our emotions, because they fuel us to say and do things we wouldn’t otherwise do. Of course, it’s easy to justify our actions and words, because our emotional reactions can justify anything. But if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we know that trying to do this doesn’t align with our heart.
It’s important that we don’t judge our emotions as good or bad. However, if we want more peace, clarity or connection in our life, then we do need to understand what they are and how they impact us.
If we’re frustrated all the time, but what we want is peace in our heart, then we need to understand what frustration is, what it does to us, how it disconnects us from our heart, and most importantly, acknowledge why we feel that way (blaming others is not the answer).
This gives us the power of choice. We can choose to continue a life of frustration and disconnection or we can choose to change and achieve peace and inner freedom.
But real choice also requires a willingness. Because a choice is not really a choice if we’re unwilling to choose what we truly want. If peace in your heart is what you truly want, but your emotional reactions and fears push you to act to the contrary, then there was no choice – you were controlled by your emotions and the fears that fuel them.
So, how do we create real change?
By feeling and being present with our emotions.
Emotional transformation doesn’t happen by pretending certain emotions don’t exist. It happens by facing them, feeling them, and understanding the truth of what’s happening inside us.
As the expression goes: The truth shall set your free.
And yes, this can be incredibly challenging at times! Because emotions can be intense, highly charged and uncomfortable, as they can reflect the shadow parts of us that we don’t want to see or acknowledge.
The expression – The truth hurts – also applies here.
To understand the challenge of change more deeply, please see my video – Understanding Change: Why it can be uncomfortable and painful at times.
Stepping into our heart in a stable and grounded way is a journey that takes courage. Because it requires feeling and being present with the whole spectrum of our emotions.
So, this is where the power of curiosity comes in – to help us on our journey of transformation.
Curiosity: the attitude of the explorer
When we engage an attitude of curiosity, we embody the mindset of an explorer.
Sometimes the thought of feeling our emotions can feel daunting, heavy and scary. But as the curious explorer, we approach the process with a different perspective. Because we know we’re really on a journey to into the heart by learning to navigate the landscapes of our mind.
There’s an interesting connection between curiosity and fear. Curiosity is a desire to know and understand the unknown. While fear often comes from not knowing – a fear of the unknown.
The power of curiosity can overcome fear.
So, what does this look like when applied to the inner exploration of our emotions?
If we’re frustrated or feeling emotionally reactive for example, if we become curious about what’s happening inside us, it creates an openness that allows us to soften fear or apprehension enough to mindfully feel and observe our emotions, so we can see them for what they are – forces, or different forms of energy, passing through us.
We only experience our emotions in a particular way because of the relationship we have to them in that moment. So, when we change our relationship to our emotions, we change how we experience these forces.
The curious approach helps us change our relationship to our emotions, by shifting from the victim, to being the explorer. From fear of the unknown to navigating a mysterious inner world of forces and energy.
For me this also brings a greater sense of adventure. That doesn’t mean it’s not challenging and uncomfortable at times. But part of an adventure is the challenge, and the challenge leads to deeper awakening.
Curiosity is something that we all have inside us, and we can use for healing and awakening, but the key is remembering to use it.
As one of my teachers used to say:
“It’s not that you can’t do it, it’s usually that you don’t remember to even try.”
The power of curiosity and presence
Being present is the foundation for a deep exploration of our emotions. But an attitude of curiosity is a particular angle into our emotions that helps us to stay present with them.
Presence is the grounding, and curiosity is the attitude.
Curiosity also has a lightness, which can be unwavering in its own way, but it helps stop us from getting too rigid and serious on our journey.
If you’ve ever tried to just be fully present with your emotions, then you’ll know it’s not so easy. Trying to do it when you’re feeling emotionally charged and reactive, that’s an even greater challenge – like jumping into a fire!
But it’s in those moment of reactivity where engaging an attitude of curiosity helps taps us into a much greater level of awareness from where we can be present with our emotions in a more effective and transformative way.
There is magic in curiosity, because as Albert Einstein said:
“You can’t solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it.”
The power of curiosity is that it takes us to that other level.
It does this because transforming our emotions is really part of a much greater journey.
This is why the practice of meditation is so powerful. Because while it’s used for many reasons, it’s ultimately a practice for self-knowledge.
The Ultimate Curiosity
Curiosity can be engaged to know and understand anything, but to know and understand who we are is one of the most profound pursuits we can follow.
While the work we do on emotions is important, it’s part of the greater journey of self-knowledge as a path to the heart.
Curiosity is a fire that we can turn towards the pursuit of self knowledge. As in the ancient Greek aphorism: Know thyself.
So, get curious!
Turn on your inner explorer and take the journey into your heart… and together, let’s make the world a more peaceful and connected place.
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