Have you ever wondered how some people maintain a vitality and fountain of youth that seems to defy their physical age?
Of course, there are various factors that contribute to this youthfulness, such as the food they eat, exercise, meditation, or social connection. In this blog post I’d like to highlight one factor that has a far more profound impact on the quality of your life than you might realize.
And it’s readily available to you, right now and at any time… and you can feel the effects almost instantly.
Curiosity!
There are many aspects to power of curiosity. This post is Part 3 of my three-part series on curiosity. In Part 1 I talked about how we can use curiosity to heal and transform our emotions and open our heart. In Part 2 I talked about how it can help heal conflict and deepen our relationships.
Today, I’ll talk about the superpower of curiosity and how it can unlock the fountain of youth.
Before we move on, take a moment to make a mental note of how you felt just before you started reading this post. No judgements. Just acknowledging.
Why?
I mentioned the effects of curiosity can happen quickly. So, as you read through this post and engage your curiosity, I’ll check in again with you to see how you feel differently. It could be that through simply reading this post in a reflective and open minded way, you’ll already start to feel this vibrant fountain of youth awakening inside you.
Yes, that’s how potent curiosity is! You could feel younger by the end of this post.
Are you curious yet?
Can you feel the spark of life awakening inside you?
Ok, let’s dive in.
A practice in curiosity
Let’s start by taking some time to reflect on times and things in your life that make you curious (beside right now ?).
Don’t rush to read too quickly. Take time to reflect and feel your heart responding.
Think about when you want to get to know someone.
Is it a friend, romantic partner, potential romantic partner, your children, your client, or a stranger you just met?
Feel how your curiosity comes alive to know, understand and connect with them.
Think about when you’re studying something your passionate about.
Is it a subject at school? Are you reading a book? Is it self-study or self inquiry?
Is it intellectual, or body and movement based? Or both? Is it spiritual and experiential?
Think about when you’re creating something or trying to understand how things work.
Maybe it’s understanding something technical. Perhaps it’s a curiosity to rearrange the furniture in your home to see how it works and feels. Maybe it’s an artistic creation and you’re curious to see how certain colours, textures or objects work together. Perhaps you want to know what would happen if you combined certain flavours in your food.
In these examples (and these are just a few) curiosity is the fuel draws us in, to know, learn, understand or connect to the things that interest us.
It feels good, right?
Can you feel the spark of curiosity alive inside you?
Where else do you feel your curiosity come alive and respond to?
I want you to choose one thing that really makes you curious. Maybe it’s one of the things mentioned above, or maybe it’s something else that lights you up.
Once you have that in mind, I want you to pause for at least a minute and simply feel your curiosity for that thing or person. As you do so, feel what happens inside you in response to your curiosity. If your mind becomes distracted and takes you elsewhere, just acknowledge it and return to your curiosity.
What’s that one thing?
Notice how being curious makes you feel.
Ok, start now for at least a minute (or longer if you’re enjoying it) and then continue here when you’re ready.
Reflections
How did you go?
More importantly, how do you feel?
As you allowed yourself to be curious about that person or thing, what changed in you?
Do you feel lighter, brighter, more open or connected?
Are you less constricted by thoughts?
Do you feel more expansive?
If you were stressed or anxious before, do you now feel more calm and alive?
Can you feel an increased vibrancy of life inside you? A youthfulness?
How does your heart respond to your curiosity?
Curiosity, life, and the fountain of youth
One of the potent qualities that comes with curiosity is:
Aliveness!
When we feel curious, we feel more alive. We feel a vibrancy of life inside us that’s not dependant on, or limited by, our physical age.
It’s beyond our physicality, and yet when we feel curious, we feel more alive and vibrant in our body.
Did you feel that in the practice you just did?
That sense of just feeling good is a sign you did.
Curiosity is a spring of youthfulness… and this is the secret to the fountain of youth.
Curiosity is more than an attitude, it’s a force of life flowing through us and connecting us to the things or people we want to know and understand.
For me, curiosity feels like it’s taking me to a very pristine and essential part of myself where I feel a connectedness between me and the thing, or person, I’m curious about.
But why does that bring more aliveness?
Because even more than the connection between our self and the person or thing, it puts us in touch with a level of creation where we know and feel the connectedness between all things.
It feels like coming closer to the source of all life.
This level is beyond time… and age relates to time.
But curiosity defies time and age.
Curiosity reconnects us to this source of eternal life – this fountain of youth.
Curiosity and youth
A great example of the connection between curiosity and youth are young children.
Have you noticed how young children are always so curious… and they’re also so full of life!
Their vibrant youth reflects this spark of pure and expansive life. Their curiosity is their inherent desire to connect with everything. To learn and grow through knowing and understanding… Not always by understanding mentally or intellectually, but through the senses.
Curiosity to know, understand and connect expressed though touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. Life is a feast for the senses.
As adults we often we lose touch with this. Which reflects our disconnection from the vibrancy of life.
But this is where the practice of mindfulness can be so potent, because it re-engages our senses to be once again sensitive to the vibrancy of life… which is the fountain of youth.
Curiosity, Mindfulness and Vitality
When we practice mindfulness, we engage our senses to quiet our busy mind and bring our awareness into the present moment.
When our mind is busy, stressed and anxious it drains our vitality. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
But it’s hard to fully comprehend how deeply our mind impacts our vitality until we have a moment of quiet.
For example, if you live in the city and you’re always surrounded by noise and a certain busyness, you usually get used to it and just go on living your life. But if you go and spend some time in nature, you feel the quiet permeating you… and you feel a sense of relief from the noise of the city. You can feel the impact the usual noise of the city has on you because now, it’s not there.
The same principle is true for your mind. The stress, anxiety, and the noise of the stories and dramas that usually fill your mind have a draining effect on your vitality. But when you learn to quiet that noise through practices like mindfulness or meditation, then you also experience a sense of relief from its impact, and you reconnect to more of your vitality.
So, how does curiosity fit in here?
In Power of Curiosity Part 1, I talked about self inquiry as the ultimate curiosity. Using your curiosity to know yourself… and as a result your naturally reconnect to the vibrancy of life inside you.
When we practice mindfulness, we bring our awareness to the present moment through our senses. You could be present with your breath, or you could be present with the taste and texture of the food you’re eating for example.
For me, when I engage curiosity into the process of being mindful, it brings greater alertness and aliveness, and something more of myself into the moment.
There’s also a virtuous cycle that’s created. Curiosity helps bring our awareness into the moment, where we feel more connected to life – and this vibrancy of life reinforces our spark of curiosity – making us feel more vital and youthful, drawing us deeper into the moment.
Curiosity is your gateway to youthfulness
How are you feeling?
Has this awakened your curiosity?
Do you feel a little more (or a lot more) inspired, enthusiastic or joyful? These are all qualities that resonate with youthfulness and are a natural response to the curiosity awakening inside you.
So, go forth and engage your life with curiosity.
Remember, when things in your life are challenging or stressful, see what happens when you approach them with curiosity.
…
If you’d like to engage your curiosity on a deep journey into the power of your heart, I invite you to join Finding Stillness. This is my comprehensive 21 Day Meditation and Mindfulness Online Course. With daily video lessons, meditations and mindfulness practices you’ll have a systematic path to engage your curiosity
Blog photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash
