One of the most reliable and overlooked keys to happiness is cultivating and exercising your innate sense of curiosity.
That is because curiosity creates an openness to unfamiliar experiences, laying the groundwork for greater opportunities to experience discovery, joy and delight.
Curiosity is something that can be nurtured and developed. With practice, you can harness the power of curiosity to transform everyday tasks into interesting and enjoyable experiences.
You can use curiosity to intentionally create wonder, intrigue and play out of almost any situation or interaction you encounter. It all starts with wanting to know more.
Curiosity is about noticing and being drawn to things you find interesting. It is about recognizing and seizing the pleasures that novel experiences offer you, and finding novelty and meaning even in the experiences that are familiar.
When you are curious, you see things differently; you use your powers of observation more fully.
You sense what is happening in the present moment, taking note of what is, regardless of what it looked like before or what you might have expected it to be. You feel alive and engaged.
Happiness is a good thing. But when you focus solely on what you think will make you happy, you can lose track of what actually does.
Did social progress, economic prosperity and technological advancement of the past 50 years change the quality of your life?
Did the new opportunities allow you to spend more time doing what you care about most, increasing your satisfaction and meaning in life? The answer is ‘No’.
The majority spends less than 20% of each day doing what could be termed very engaging, enjoyable and meaningful activities (such as talking with close friends, bonding with loved ones, creating, playing, or pursuing a spiritual practice).
Instead, most of time and energy are spent engaged in unsatisfying work activities and chores (commuting, standing in line, fixing appliances), or decompressing in ways that bring neither joy nor challenge (watching TV, snacking or just ‘Doing nothing’).