Be Curious

Curiosity comes with a willingness to admit being wrong.

To be open to considering an alternative view.

People assume that being curious or open to other perspectives is a threat to holding firm convictions or values.

Our values and convictions are often how we show up in the world but we must also be aware that other external factors influence how we see and experience life.

Every human society is an enterprise of world-building

Peter Berg

We might not always admit it but elements of our values and convictions are a result of imaginations, innovations, and ideas in the world around us.

Most of what we find ourselves doing is consistent with our culture (if not all).

I spent most of my childhood, teenage and young adult life in Nigeria. I moved to the UK in my mid twenties and have lived here since.

While I mostly consider myself Nigerian, it would be foolhardy of me to think that I haven’t imbibed elements British culture.

20 yr old me would be astonished at how easily I can kickstart a conversation of the back of the weather. Or how much tea I now drink.😁

We must be willing to admit that we are all prone to group think, stereotypes, prejudice , objectification etc.

“Cultures” are environments, or “worlds,” we create for ourselves.

It’s why we must be willing to question the status quo. We must be willing to accept that there might be a perspective that differs to ours which might not be entirely wrong or false

This is how change occurs; new things are discovered, new ideas are expanded on and adapted to the old. I know change isn’t always synonymous with better ( believe me when I say this) but at least we are able to consider different.

It’s a relatively new year and while a lot of us are considering new ways of doing I am urging us to also consider a new way of being.

So as you start this new week, what can you be curious about?

Trying out a dish you have never tried?

Taking a different route on your daily walk/run?

Start a conversation with someone you ordinarily wouldn’t?

Read an article outside your area of discipline or interest?

Be willing to really listen to something, someone or a viewpoint you disagree with?

These are just a few ways you can be curious not just this week but as we go into a new year!

Thank you for reading and would be curious( pun intended 😁) to hear how you are going to be curious this year