How To Learn: Curiosity

It may seem obvious that if we want to learn we need to be curious. But curiosity is not just about the desire to learn. It's also about the state of mind one needs to be in to learn. 

Curiosity is the drive to seek out more information, understanding or experience about a topic or practice that is of personal interest. There doesn't need to be a reason why that particular topic is of interest. Curiosity can appear to come out of nowhere or seem unrelated to other parts of one's life. It can be standalone force that finds us and points us in a particular direction. 

That is one part of curiosity. There is another. 

The second, and more important part, is the ability to then approach the topic or practice of interest with curiosity. Meaning, we have to set aside why we think we are interested in it, and what we think we will learn.

​If we do not set aside preconceived notions of what we will find, we will be blinded by them. We will make the new information fit into what we already think about it, rather than allow it to open us up to new possibilities. 

This means that what we will find is out of our control. Once curiosity takes over, it's out of our hands. We have to be open to the fact that what we learn might feel disappointing and frustrating rather than liberating and exciting. It may conflict with what we already think we know, instead of taking us further down the path of understanding that we think we are on. 

This is all an important part of the process. ​If we already knew where our curiosity would lead, we wouldn't need to seek out the information.

To be truly curious is to seek knowledge and experience and to accept it with all of the challenges it will bring to us-- this is how we make progress.