Today, I am very thankful for curiosity and someone who spends much of their life being extremely curious about… curiosity! Todd Kashdan, thank you for passionately and professionally researching curiosity. I found it very amusing that, during the week prior to this cycle starting, as I began to plan this next theme out, I heard the following in passing from a mental health expert in my life – “Curiosity is a sign of a healthy brain. Being inquisitive and curious is beneficial to your well-being.” Thank you for providing me with such an exciting light bulb moment. I was eager and thrilled to jot those words down as I realized what perfect fuel they were for my own curiosity about… curiosity! The layer of fun further unfolds here by the fact that Todd is a director of the Well-Being Laboratory.
Are you becoming curious at all yet? :) I certainly hope so.
Dr. Kashdan has determined that cultivating curiosity is fundamental for living a “happy, fulfilling life.” Curiosity can help you see the world through a brighter lens. It can help you enjoy more moments by reestablishing your “childlike sense of awe and wonder” with anything and everything that surrounds you. Todd believes that curious people perform better at tasks because they are more open to learning and being present.
He has authored a number of articles and books that you can explore if you are… curious to learn more. I cannot recommend anything in particular because I have only recently heard of him and his work. Yet, I can still be thankful for him already because he has helped me feel even more at home and in love with my insatiable and feisty curiosity.
I will close this post with the quote that stood out to me most in the article that I was reading when I curiously stumbled upon him and his work: “According to Kashdan, a good recipe for purpose is combining external curiosity – that is, curiosity about the world around you – with internal curiosity: curiosity about yourself. ‘Use external curiosity to ask yourself, “what does the world need?” Find the gap,’ Kashdan suggests. ‘Then, direct your curiosity inward to figure out what are the particular strengths, experiences, life events, perspectives, and relationships that make you unlike anyone else who will ever walk the Earth again. When you combine those things together, you can begin to see what you uniquely can contribute to the world. And that will help you determine what your purpose should be.'” It sounds quite beautiful, perfect, and personalized to me.
Thank you, Dr. Todd Kashdan. I appreciate your curiosity about curiosity immensely. Maybe it is wise. Maybe it is dumb. Time will tell. Stay curious, and be well, y’all <3