The importance of curiosity in unlearning

What are you noticing about your patterns of thinking and behaving? How well are those patterns serving you this week?

And are there models and patterns in there that you need to un-learn?

My recent musings were around the idea of unlearning, and what it means to let go of past ways of thinking and doing things as we embrace new ways. You can read more about that here. 

What do you notice about your life that might be outdated? Perhaps the way you do something, or the way you think about yourself. 

It can be all-too-easy to get stuck in the same patterns and models of thinking and behaving, especially when life is busy and full. 

The importance of curiosity.

Curiosity is a great way to break out of same-old-same-old patterns. Curiosity expands the mind and allows us to reconnect with our childlike selves. Spend any time at all with the average 5 year old (is there such a thing?) and you will know what curiosity it. Children have an innate capacity to ask questions and to be curious about, well, everything. There were times when, as a parent, this would drive me batty. 

But the importance of curiosity continues throughout life. 

This week, take time to be curious about your own life. What is working well? What is not working that might benefit from being revisited? Is there unlearning required?

Be open, inquisitive, flexible and see what happens. 

As always, it starts with awareness, and awareness starts with asking yourself questions:

What if I do this instead? What if I stop doing that? How could I approach this situation differently?”

See where your curiosity takes you. What new patterns of thinking could now serve you better? What new model for this season of life will work better? 

Curiosity opens us up to greater creativity.

And that is a marvellous adjunct to unlearning. When we are letting go of old patterns of thinking or behaving, especially if it is because a season of our lives has come to an end, there can be insecurity and fear associated with that.

The old is familiar and safe. New can feel scary, uncertain and uncharted. 

But keeping an open, curious and questioning mind can open the way to greater inspiration, positive challenge and stimulation. Rather than fearing the unknown, we can embrace new opportunities with an inquisitive mind and heart and see where they take us.

And as we adopt new ways of thinking and behaving, we can incorporate new habits into our lives.

In this house, school is coming to an end forever very soon, and that means a very different season for us. Old habits, patterns of living and rhythms will be outdated and no longer relevant. 

A lot of unlearning is required for me to let go of those patterns. But as I reflect on the importance of curiosity, I can see that this new season opens the way to opportunities that were not available before. 

This unlearning is not something that will happen overnight. 

This Harvard Business Review article talks about the importance of ingraining the new habits associated with new way of thinking (back to growth mindset again). We practice the new way of thinking and we choose to repeat and reinforce our new habits. I was musing about this recently as we considered the importance of noticing the direction our thoughts take us in.  

We choose what we put in our minds, and we can choose to change the tape and play new ways of thinking. 

So this week, be curious about your life and your ways of doing things. Notice what is working, and notice where you might be getting stuck.

And if getting stuck is a theme that keeps popping up, get in touch for a free taster session to talk things through and see if working with me is what you need to get unstuck!