The Power of Curiosity
During the indecision in Congress, as the August 2nd date came up, and as the stock market took at roller coaster ride, I found myself getting caught up and feeling distressed. I was frustrated and was feeling that Congress was focusing on ‘what’s in it for them’ rather than helping our country become stronger. Then as the stock market started taking a roller coaster ride, I was getting fearful that we’d have yet a 3rd huge loss in a dozen years with our investments.
I was also invited to speak at a human resources event. I was embarrassed that I would be speaking on work/life balance and how to manage stress, when mine was peaking.
So I stepped back to become more of an observer. I thought ‘ok, what can I control / do?’ Well, I could write to Congress and see if I could influence them. I could also look at our investments and long term strategy and decide if it would make sense to shift anything around. I also decided that I could change my attitude. So after deciding on what I could control, I decided to think back to my college majors of psychology and sociology and chose to look at the whole fiasco as a sociological experiment, and to be inquisitive. I wondered ‘how long will Congress take to make a decision? How close to the Aug 2nd date will they wait? How will the stock market react to the economic changes and perceptions around the world?… .’
What I found was that when I came from a place of curiosity, my fear evaporated! I couldn’t be truly curious and fearful at the same time! What a powerful insight!
As I wrote up my workshop on work-life balance, I included these thoughts. So often my stress is about managing my energy and my attitude. I had the participants identify their ‘tolerations’ and look for patterns and shifts that could help them address and/or eliminate them now and forever. I asked them to become curious because curiosity allowed them to be more open and flexible in how they perceived their list and to find solutions they may not have previously considered. I asked them to partner with a classmate and for them to be curious together as they reviewed each other’s lists identifying patterns of behavior and the shifts to empower themselves.
As I also implemented this shift in myself I decreased my stress, increased my energy and came from a place of empowerment. I invited you to experiment with this concept of coming from a place of curiosity, and please write and share your insights and experience!
To your success,
Gwyneth Anne Freedman
gaf@PersonalJourneyCoaching.com
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