The Power of Curiosity
The Power of Curiosity
Here’s the audio of this week’s newsletter: http://tiny.cc/taq8101
I remember when I started my Feldenkrais® training program decades ago; I knew from the start that I was curious- that is all a person needs to begin this process. What actually launched this pathway, and totally changed my life for the better, was receiving a Functional Integration (FI)® session with a skilled trainer that awoke a rare and hopeful experience. I discovered other options to follow to find my way back to living with more physical ease and comfort. Through my training experiences, I realized that this somatic approach to learning further enhanced and exponentially improved all aspects of my life moving forward.
“Only the curious have something to find.” – Sean Harris (American guitarist & songwriter)
This strong desire to grow and learn more, beyond what we know, spoke to me. It is a natural experience for any being, human or animal. I needed and wanted to know more as I came into the Feldenkrais world due to pain, when none of the medical model or other modality approaches were able to help me find a way to free myself of the pain and discomfort I had learned how to tolerate.
That coercive approach was no longer serving me in any productive way. I relished this gentler way of learning without fearing judgment of what I could or could not do. The competitive edge quieted as the freeing experience helped me learn differently. Learning is a process where you need to push against some resistance: the unknown. Encouraging myself to read more and study what offered more options and possibilities helped me start solving difficult problems. It opened the world of asking more questions and building new connections. It also offered an emotional benefit, as it gave me the possibility to realize I could find other solutions to the chronic pain I ignored for too long.
“To learn we need time, attention, and discrimination; to discriminate we must sense. This means that in order to learn we must sharpen our powers of sensing, and if we try and do most things by sheer force of will we shall achieve precisely the opposite of what we need.” – Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais
I shared this idea with my husband as we hiked our labs this morning, and he shared more about the Mars Curiosity rover mission. This is part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, which, at the time of its launch, was the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars. This sparked my curiosity to research further, because just like food and water, the essentials we all need to survive, our brains and nervous systems are hardwired to gather information as a vital biological necessity.
Did you realize curiosity is a sophisticated survival mechanism that creates a feedback loop? It’s about survival, and this feedback loop enables us to compare, learn, and create adaptations and modifications that help us evolve, grow, and improve. It helps clarify what we know and what we want to focus on next. It’s almost like having an itch you need to scratch, a need to know more, and a pathway to follow to attain more information.
Curiosity is about our minds and bodies being hungry for newness and stimulation to stave off boredom. Anything that is too predictable becomes so habituated that we take things for granted; too often, it creates plateaus, depression, and anxiety. Curiosity drives us to learn new things and move forward instead of staying stuck in what we know. That can happen when a feeling of safety no longer feels comfortable, and something needs to shift to create a new pathway forward.
When this process awakens, it drives you to move without fear because it becomes something you feel you don’t want to live without. It becomes the passion that you love so you can improve with strategies and new pathways to follow.
“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” –– Albert Einstein
I hope I’ve earned the privilege of your time and attention this week and encourage curiosity awakening.
Warmest,
Peggi
