September 2022 Editor's Fix

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” 
~ Albert Einstein 

I never considered the importance of curiosity until becoming a parent. I think we are all born with a natural curiosity but it’s those who have the courage and confidence to continue to use it that innately learn the most and carry this ‘superpower’ through life. 

As a parent, caregiver or teacher, the wonderment of young people is quite obvious… as they ask questions… a lot of questions… all of the time. Just the other day, my youngest asked me how the people who are on the bottom of the world don’t know they’re upside down and we ended up having a conversation about the vastness of the universe and her eyes were so big I just wanted to jump into her body to her thoughts and feel her amazement! It’s moments like these that make us wish we still had that starry-eyed outlook, that thirst for knowing, that natural curiosity of childhood. 

As adults we tend to get bogged down with all of the ‘to do’s’ we need to accomplish to keep us afloat, but we still can create space for wonderment, and we should! As Neil deGrasse Tyson says, participating in wonder, even when we are struggling, helps with our resilience and can help us to find meaning even during dark times. 

So, how can we foster curiosity? All I know is that creating space for it is key. Is there something you love to do that helps you to feel in the moment? For me, it’s biking and it’s during this time that my brain wonders and time slows and everything seems fresh and new and my heart is open. Of course, even though I would like to bike for hours each day, I cannot… so how else can foster curiosity?
We can read, listen to podcasts, expose ourselves to ideas, topics and material that doesn’t fit within our current wheelhouse, we can acknowledge that what we know is but a small fraction of what you could know. Wow! Imagine the possibilities. 

As the school year commences, let’s take a moment to acknowledge and be grateful for all we have learned and all we have yet to learn. That sure encourages me to work harder on being passionately curious!