
Your wise self knows how to listen to anything. She knows how to sit with the difficult person and take their story in without bias. He knows the way of hearing the words between the words, the emotion inside the banter.
We have this capacity but it is SO, SO hard to keep it alive in the moments that matter. And many of them do, in fact, matter.
When I’m at the grocery store checkout, I can think about whatever I’m about to do next or work on the Wordle or just stare out into space. OR, I can choose to listen to what is right in front of me: a person asking me how my day is going. I can notice their jewelry or their shoes and think about them as a person who chooses their costume every day, just like I do.
When I’m on a trail in the middle of the day, I can put on a podcast or keep checking the numbers on my watch. OR, I can hear the wind coming over the ridge and the pebbles eroding off the slope to my side. I can notice the weather coming and wonder if snow is coming and what the mountain will look like tomorrow.
For me, choosing the latter option means finding my spark of curiosity. It’s always there, but often forgotten in the non-stop distractions of technology and society.
Curiosity Filled this Cat
That’s all it takes. One moment I could be getting annoyed at traffic, and the next moment I can be fascinated by the bumper stickers right in front of me, wondering who is this person and what the heck do they dream about.
Curiosity fills my vat of wonder and experience. Nothing else comes close.
How about you? Can you let your curiosity get bigger, is curiosity hard to find, does it get out of control, did you feel it when you were young, does it light you up now or not really at all?
I’m curious.