Curiosity- Follow it, Chase it... Keep the spark alive.
CURIOSITY- Follow it, Chase it...
Keep the spark alive
Curiosity
is a powerful human quality that leads us to new discoveries and destinations. It
makes our mind active and observant. All of us operate with a mind which is
like a “question popping machine”
with questions/doubts that keep generating like sparks every now and then. Searching
answers and quenching our curious thirst is what each one of us does all the
time.
The knowledge won’t come to us… we need to acquire it.
Curiosity is our
innate quality which we can enhance with time.
Many people with their passionate curiosity
and varied interests are always hungry for more knowledge without any specific
purpose in mind. Some people may have their own prospective like, “what’s in
for me (benefit/ importance)” while feeding their curiosity. While some other
people may be just happy to navigate at their own speed around their own
limited area of curiosity. Do you see yourself in any of these categories?
I used to be in the second category when I was at work but now as a homemaker am
working on to fit into the first one.
Well, I
feel it depends on: 1) Individual urge to learn (personal and professional level),
2) How intense is our curiosity, and 3) Our attraction
towards the people, things, topics and areas that we find interesting,
fascinating to dig into.
Curiosity opens our mind up to new ideas and possibilities.
All of us are blessed with our own sense and level of curiosity with which
we seek information and expand our knowledge. With the world coming closer and
the knowledge growing by the day, it is advisable to prepare our brain for
learning. With practice, we can groom and cultivate our innate sense of
curiosity. Using our curiosity in the right direction is
always beneficial. Isn’t it? It is also necessary to correctly test the curiously acquired knowledge.
Small children have their
curiosity antennas raised up all the time. The growing curious minds always
want to try their hands on everything and explore new things keeping the parents
and the caretakers on their toes running behind them all the time. Now that my
children are grown up… I miss that lovable and memorable yet tied up tiring
time. Children teach us so much… their open-ended questions keep on challenging
us several times. Every now and then, I find myself googling around for answers
to guide them and thereby add on to my own knowledge. Won’t you agree that the
curiosity needs to be fed instantly before they grow out of it? They grasp quickly and are natural imitators. Parents need to protect their innocent
curiosity as well.
While working as a nursery teacher, it was
interesting to see how every child was unique and had its own individual age
maturity. The readiness to learn differed on a large scale and so did the
curiosity levels. Acknowledging their short and limited attention span and high
chances of reaching quick boredom, proper measures were constantly taken by the
authorities. Attractive, improvised and researched teaching skills were adapted
in the school. Bright colours, music,
pictures and video clips are mainly used as teaching aids in pre-schools to
grab the attention and tickle the curiosity.
In this modern world, the concept
of “independent
learning” is becoming more and more popular with the growing demands.
Students get the freedom, option and choice to learn at their own desired time,
speed and mood. This type of interactive self-study enhances the natural curiosity
in the open learning minds. They don’t feel “pushed” and hence learn more
around the topic as well.
We learn more when we are on our own… I realise this more now after
looking at the current smart generation and the way the education is imparted
today. Focussed more on the application and not just the theory, it is much
better than what it was when I was a student. My children know so much more
that what I ever knew when I was their age or even as a young adult… it truly
amazes me.
The boons of technology are limitless, and the
effective web search engines taking the students to the various up-to-date well
researched, organised and documented educative sites (print, audio and visual),
answering their queries and clearing their doubts have proved this fact. This
type of teaching has become tremendously successful in improving and developing the common sense, perception and presentation
skills of the students. Now, they don’t have to wait for an adult or a book
to borrow from the library… the required knowledge is just a “click” away from
them!
The teacher in the classroom portrays
a bigger role of a facilitator and a guide in today’s schools/colleges. The
interactive conversation between the students and their teachers with the help
of the modern gadgets builds a strong rapport between them making the classroom
environment rich and enjoyable. Overlooking the exceptions, many students are seen to be
exceeding their potentials.
The curiosity channelized in the right direction grooms
the attitude towards learning and the students are encouraged to work to the
best of their abilities.
Big breakthroughs, innovations and experiments
are sometimes a result of that “one curious thought” that led into the
research. It is always better to be
aware and alert of what goes on around us and in the world. It is helpful
to stay updated with the current affairs and the latest happenings. I think diversifying our interests boosts our
social life to some extent.
Larger and varied our interests – Vaster and broader will be our knowledge.
Internet and the various mobile applications have
gifted us easy interesting ways to feed our curiosity. I find myself getting
more and more curious with each growing day. It is so hard to resist
“clicking”, I find myself glued to my laptop, iPad or mobile… all this is so
addictive … Realised that excessive
curiosity is addictive too! Forced breaks are a must for me. I have had to
work around some firm ways… follow a specific googling routine, set time constraint
alarms, keep my mobile away from my eyes to control my temptation and curtail
my curiosity! I have had to enforce similar restrictions for my children as
well. What about you?
We can’t deny that there are two sides
to curiosity as well. The darker side of curiosity needs to be viewed with great
vigilance. Parents now must be extra alert and carefully identify the bad influences on their children in
general and take the right timely planned action. Today’s children are unsafe
in their own homes with the kind of knowledge and entertainment that they can
freely access online. Thankfully, we can intervene to some extent by taking
protective steps like parental locks
blocking certain sites. Yet, some exposures are inevitable. Internet can be
a curse too sometimes.
Being an adult, we have the total freedom and independence of
following and chasing what our mind craves for and our heart longs for. With countless
negative distractions (online or otherwise), temptations and bad habits luring
us, it is quite human to get buried under our own curiosity with “ignorance” playing
its active role. Here the battle with our consciousness, with our darker
curious side may get fierce at times. Such are the times when we naively invite
trouble. By the time one realises, it may be too late. Getting our life back on
track then is a humongous yet achievable task. Learning from our experiences and proceed ahead with greater confidence
is the best we can do. Failure is only
the opportunity for a fresh new start, only this time more wisely!
Let me end
with this eye-opener line I read online by the great Marie Curie:
Be
less curious about people and more curious about ideas.
Until next time… Let’s be curious for our favourable growth…
keep an open-mind!
Thank you for reading my thoughts. I truly appreciate your time. Do
like, share and post your valuable comments. Take care.
Were it not for my curiosity in the Human Psyce, did I not end up here. Thank you for reminding me to stay curious
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