I was chatting with my friend Paul the other day and casually said that one of my main criticisms about myself is that I’m not curious. I said that I saw it in others but lacking in me.

He was quick to respond that he found me to be curious in specialized areas and I agreed, but found myself, on balance, to be generally incurious.

It got me curious about curiosity.

The takeaway I got is that curiosity about one thing, no matter how isolated, informs all things. It’s like the famous adage that a rising tide lifts all boats.

I do find that people who are curious about a lot of things are generally more interesting conversationalists because they can span a lot of different topics.

But even limited curiosity like mine seems to permeate other seemingly unrelated areas of non-inquiry within me.

It’s hard to put into words but it seems that the curiosity I do conjure up infuses my whole. That means it cross pollinates and is indeed useful by other parts of me that were not curious. There is learning going on on multiple levels due to the isolated curiosity on one topic at one level.

I guess that means that if you experience euphoria, it can be felt in your earlobes too, not only in your heart.

My overarching takeaway is this: Curiosity is beneficial no matter the amount. The key is to make sure you feed your curiosity so that all parts of you can be nourished.

All the best,

John