Curiosita

"An Insatiably Curious Approach to Life and an Unrelenting Quest for Continuous Learning".

So, I've been in school (in one way or another) since I was 5. That makes for 28 years. Either I'm crazy or "Insatiably Curious" (or maybe it's both).

And now that I have a small one of my own, I am curious in a whole new way...through the eyes of a child.

In Michael Gelb's book How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, these statements grabbed my attention in the "Curiosita" chapter:

--All of us come into the world curious.
--In the first years of life our minds are engaged in an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. From birth--and some would argue, even before--the baby's every sense is attuned to exploring and learning. Like little scientists, babies experiment with everything in their environment. As soon as they can speak, children start articulating question after question.
--Great minds go on asking confounding questions with the same intensity through their lives.
--The questions that "engage our thought" on a daily basis reflect our life's purpose and influence the quality of our lives.

Complacency is death to a great mind. And since almost all of us have the potential to have a great mind, allowing complacency to stick around once it is pointed out is intellectual suicide.

It is easy to say, "there is no answer" and to let it go at that. It is easy to say "because, I said so" or "because that's the way it is." It is not as easy to counter with, "there has to be", and "why do you say so" and "why is it that way?"...or to accept it from someone else.

Learning is messy. It is rich with gray and is rarely black and white. It is not easy. But neither must it be difficult. In fact, difficulty often fades into the background and ceases to be a measure when true learning starts to take place. The challenge becomes the high.

Brains focus and new synapses are formed when complicated tasks are undertaken and accomplished. When problems are considered and solved.

I have lost sight of most of my earlier hobbies. I have 20 minutes carved out each day to workout and read. I spend anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours writing each day. I work 8 hours at the least during the week. I go to bed early. I keep in contact with friends. But somewhere, in all of that...I am connecting, forming ideas, tackling problems, and engaging in authentic learning. Challenging myself to think beyond myself and beyond what I might normally have thought...for no one but myself and for no other reason that to "know"...or at least to "seek".

I have one of those jobs that demands fairly continuous creativity, new techniques, alternating styles, 14 different ways to do the same thing (and that's just this year)...constant retraining, periodic inspiration sessions, and daily (sometimes hourly) reflection. It's a collaborative job involving a lot of solitary planning and evaluation.

But, it's important to connect with my own curiosity whenever I can. Which I do...maybe too often.

When was the last time you did?

Today's curiosity: Scientists Keep Water Liquid Far Below Zero Degrees

and...

The Sound of Potential