Curiosity

How curious are you?

It has been said that the average 3 year old will ask on average 400 questions a day. A DAY! The average adult will ask around 12. What happened? Where did it go? We all started with it. When you meet someone for the first time, what are the questions we ask? How's it going? Where do you work? What do you do? Are you married? Do you have kids? Here was a favorite while in College, "What's your major?"

Then what. We have NO idea what else to say. Lull. And when we do ask, do we really even care what the answer is!

"I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious." - Albert Einstein

I became aware of this phrase a few months ago. Fake Curiosity. I had a bad case of this. I had spent twelve years of my life perfecting it. It's called sales. I would ask a question with the sole purpose of setting myself up to tell you something. I didn't really care what you had to say. I would be waiting for you to shut-up. Sad isn't it?

So what is Real Curiosity? I can tell you this, it is without limitations! It is more than the circumstances. It can be about the person right in front of you. How are they standing? Arms crossed? Fingers locked very tightly? What about their breathing? Is it rapid, shallow? Are they breathing? What about their voice? Is it sad?, Joyful? Scarred? There is what they ARE saying, but what about what they are NOT saying. There is so much to be curious about!

During a recent visit to my grandparents house in Louisiana, I found myself fully immersed in Real Curiosity with my Grandfather. It was more than talking about the weather. It went further than talking about what medications he's taking and when the next doctor's visit was. We went on a curiosity vacation together, right there in his sun room. Here was the question: "Tell me about your grandfather?" That was it. Thankfully my bags were packed because we went off on a two hour excursion. The questions kept coming out of my mouth as I got more and more curious about his experience. It wasn't about me setting myself up so I could tell him a story, this was all about him. Question. Follow-up question. Followed with another question. So what was it like for my grandfather to have someone be insanely curious about him? You would have to ask him. But from what I saw, He came alive. He was telling me things he had never told anyone else. And why is that?

Because I asked.