In ’The Art of Noticing’ Rob walker quotes Todd B. Kashdan, a professor of psychology at George Mason University.
”(Kashdan refers to) curiosity as ‘joyous exploration’ - defined as ‘the recognition and desire to seek out new knowledge and information, and the subsequent joy of learning and growing”
I feel given the rigours of professional life, the only way to be constantly and fruitfully engaged is to choose the stream one is curious about. Curiosity is the playful tenderness that guides the mind through the joys and tribulations of life, be it in work or otherwise. It is my feeling that no work can be expressed to its peak without having a deep curiosity about it. What all are we curious about? We all have a unique combination of it, it might even be the question that constitutes what we call our identity. Human behavior - blues music - high altitude mountaineering - visual art - films are a few of the things that I’m curious about and in a way, my inclination to them is my current identity.
Conversely drudgery is probably the other end of the spectrum where curiosity has left one’s heart and soul and each task is dealt mechanically. Like an automaton we perform tasks day in and day out, fuelled by our own misguided expectations or the ones we inherit from our society. But without curiosity, this joyous exploration, do we at the end of each day feel fulfilled in our quest or hollow? We do owe to ask ourselves this.