Curiosity didn’t kill the cat, but maybe it killed the stoic.

 

 

Thrivability doesn’t arise from knowing it all in advance. It comes from not knowing together and wondering what might be possible, it invites us to dive headlong into curiosity. When we bring curiosity to challenges like “Upper Limit Problems” that include any of the ways we resist and sabotage the great things that come our way, then we can transform our experience. We humans so often try to protect ourselves by not enjoying this moment, not savoring this person, or not doing this thing by telling ourselves it will have some down side or hidden negatives. We end up trying to be stoic, not feeling our feelings. Like Schrödinger's cat, not fully present, not fully dead.

We can bring curiosity and ask ourselves, “how great might this be?” or “What if good things don’t have a hidden bad thing in them?” and “What if this joy won’t come at some later expense?” 

We can also bring our curiosity to other feelings. It isn’t just, “What if I allowed myself to feel this joy and delight?” It can also be, “What if I brought curiosity to my sadness or frustration? What would happen? What would happen if you believed that life was worth it, worth taking the risk of being curious about your own emotional experience?

When we avoid how we feel and try to control our experience, we can end up faking the good stuff. Why would you fake it if you can have the real thing! The path to toxic positivity and the emotional shut down of stoics is the path without curiosity. Take the risk, feel the feelings, all of them. 

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat, but maybe it killed the stoic. And that’s not really such a bad thing, is it?