Curiosity: A Toast to Life

"I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity." --Eleanor Roosevelt

I have been thinking about what traits keep me happy and positive. This is something to think about considering final exams are this week, and if you work it may be busy season due to the holidays, the new year, etc. Studies show that those who have more experiences, rather than material possessions are happier through life. What is a common characteristic that leads to most new experiences? I believe the answer is curiosity. Naturally, children are very curious and the world is theirs to learn. I always found myself asking my parents, aunts/uncles, grandparents countless questions about everything from the beginning of speech until my adolescent years. Curiosity leads to many new discoveries and changes the way we perceive our world. You could argue that aside from survival and reproduction, curiosity is one of the leading drivers of human progress and what we have come to as a civilization.

A few examples from my life. I remember the first time I heard that Charlie Brown Christmas tune by Vince Guaraldi. I wondered how he created that. Now I enjoy playing the piano in my spare time. When I was ten, my dad took me into a camping store. I picked up a Boy Scout handbook and wondered what I would look like with all the medals in the back of the book. I never got any of them, but I did become an Eagle Scout. When I was fifteen, I took a peek into my parents liquor cabinet, I wonder what Jack Daniel's tastes like? Not what I expected! Recently, I wondered what it would be like to climb the highest mountain on a continent. Two summers from now I am scheduled to climb Mount Kilamanjaro.

I think the best way to be curious is to let it come naturally, what is it that inspires you, intrigues you, gets you excited, is interesting? I find that most barren periods of curiosity are when I heed to conventional wisdom and let the media pundits push there tea leaves of glory on my eyes. But lets stay positive!

I will leave your own curiosity up to you. However, a year and a half back I found one of the best places on the web to be curious. Quora. You can follow interesting people, following your favorite topics and learn about everything. It is a question and answer website that is far superior to Yahoo answers. The community is great, check it out if you are curious enough to do so.