Nurturing Our Curiosity
01_05_2021
Nurturing Our Curiosity
Multiple elements encourage us on the continuing path of evolving. One of the reasons I’ve undertaken writing this Blog is that I want to hold myself accountable for not giving into our society’s limited view of our ability to continue to grow and learn as we age. Within the United States our culture leans toward worshiping youth and all of the attributes that accompany being young.
But we don’t have to buy into that message. The more I read and learn about aging, the more I discover and embrace the many gifts that are available to us as we gain more life experience. To access those gifts, though, we have to make time and space for the flames that help fuel our opportunities to expand.
Key elements in committing to growth include setting aside time to learn, nurturing our curiosity, silencing the inner critics and naysayers who for nefarious reasons work to discourage us from breaking free of the perceptions of aging, and the meaningless noise that can fill our lives if we don’t exercise our powers of discernment.
Using our time wisely is critical to embracing what really feeds our souls. I witness many examples in my daily life of people who “live on hamster wheels.” I listen to them constantly note how busy they are, how tired they are, how they haven’t time to connect with people they claim are important in their lives, etc. While I understand how we can all find ourselves in periods of time where external issues in our lives can necessitate a period of unusual demands., I can’t help but wonder what the lasting consequences or regrets might be when one realizes how much time has passed when one was barely present.
I recognized at a fairly early age the elements that I wanted in my life as anchors. Creating and caring for my home – building and tending to my nest, spending time with friends and connecting with family, caring for my cats, cooking and eating well, entertaining, reading, having quiet time, writing, developing an inner/spiritual life, making time for joy, and taking care of myself. I must have chosen wisely without knowing exactly what I was doing as these themes have remained pretty consistent throughout my life.
Anchors are very forgiving and if they are truly central to your being, they have a way of calling you back when you get to far away from them. If my home starts to look like it could use more attention, I find I am distracted from the more mental tasks like writing. I get the message that it is time to attend to some housework. No matter how busy I have been around Christmas time, I have always taken the time to put up and decorate and ENJOY my Christmas tree. I realized that you can’t get time back, so it is best to be in the present as much as possible so when you look back, you know that you made the most of the time that you have been given. My anchors help guide me and call me back to what is important in my life when gravitational forces pull me out-of-balance.
Carving out time for reflection and inspiration are important to nurturing your curiosity and development. Just like a car needs time to go from 75 miles and hour to 10 miles an hour, our beings need time to shift into a slower, more reflective space. When we’re in a quieter space, it is easier to hear the inner voices or to register the inklings to new learning and interest.
Recently I was on one of my favorite walks in the woods, and I heard a birdsong I never heard before. I have an App on my iPhone – it’s called Song Sleuth – that allows you to record the birdsong, and then once you enter the State that you are in, it will give you pictures of birds that could be making a particular sound. I was in the right mental space that allowed the experience to register, and when I returned home, I dug out my Peterson Field Guide to the Birds to learn more about Wrens.
I’m working on two major writing projects at the moment, and both of them involve intensive research and reading. I am energized by what there is to learn and discover about both topics, and I block off time in my schedule so that I can honor the intensity of my work. In order to block off the time I need to do this work, I reserved Monday and Friday in my weekly schedule for writing. Ultimately, it means I have to say “no” to some requests, or that I can’t respond to them as quickly as someone wants.
By taking steps to protect my time, I am more relaxed about how I spend my time and I avoid finding myself in situations where I’m privately angry about being somewhere that I feel is a waste of my time.
I just finished reading Anne D. LeClaire’s Listening Below the Noise: The Transformative Power of Silence. The book is a pleasant read, and I could have found myself underlining every sentence. LeClaire describes her experience of introducing periods of silence in her life. She began with practicing silence on the 2nd and the 4th Monday of every month, and then she experimented with longer periods of silent retreat when she was in the midst of writing projects.
Even though I have not yet committed to specific time blocks of silence, I do experience periods during most days when I have the good fortune of enjoying silence. Reading her book for the second time offered me a new insight to consider. Previously I have associated my need for quiet time with my Introverted nature, but I realized that I just don’t like noise. One of my friends always has noise in the background, so when we’re in her car, the radio is on. When we’re at her home, the TV or music is on. I experience a visceral reaction to the constant noise when I transition from my settings to her settings.
I go through whole weekends without turning on my TV, my radio, or listening to music. I just crave silence. I like having the time to think and reflect, and to listen to the inner voices that provide me with insight or inspiration. Sometimes the messages are so softly spoken that I would miss them if there were competing noises in the background.
I just finished reading John O’Donohue’s Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for a Modern World. Here is one of his beautiful poem that he shares with readers, one that encourages and supports the importance of our receptivity to curiosity, wonder, and growth:
For Presence:
Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
The way forward for a richer, more rewarding life is to give ourselves the gift of time and silence that pave the way for us to grow and learn.
