If you’ve ever been around children for more than 5 minutes, you know how curious they are about the world around them. Their brains are an open filing cabinet receiving new information every single day. If you’re talking with a 7-year-old kid and you happen to mention something they’ve never heard before, their eyebrows wrinkle up with wonder and you can see the look of curiosity as they ask, “What’s that mean?” This is them creating a new file for this completely new information so that they can store it and find it the next time it comes up in conversation.
Curiosity is baked into all of us because we’re humans. We’re naturally curious about the things around us from the beginning. Unlike when we were children though, our filing system is not always open. Some of the files may be a bit dusty, even. So as we grow older, we have to be more intentional with our curiosity. We remind ourselves of it and when we do, the nature of curiosity takes over and runs away with us.
Think of the last time you felt intensely curious about something. It didn’t take much effort did it? You were probably introduced to an idea that sent fiery signals through your brain as you thought of it. This is what has to happen in the creative process. If we want to make things that excite us, we have to be curious. Explore the mysteries that make your eyebrows wrinkle up with wonder.
Open up the filing cabinet of your mind and create new files for new experiences and new ideas. Create things with a curious heart. Be curiously creative in your work and see where it takes you.
Explore, friends. It’s what we’re made to do.
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