I’ve always been very curious. When I was a child, I watched this show called « The Pretender ». It was about a genius man who could be anything he wanted to be. One day, he was a firefighter and the next day a surgeon. While I knew this was impossible, deep down I wished this is what I could do. Learn something new every day. Understand why and how things work. There are so many wonderful things one can learn and do in a lifetime.

Have you watched « Ted Lasso » yet? If you haven’t watched it, I recommended it. It presented great lessons about the value of leadership and positivity. This line in the movie really resonated with me « Be curious, not judgemental ». I think as children we were curious beings, and along the way, exchanged that curiosity for judgement! When I reflect on the state of the world right now, I feel like the pendulum has swung too far on the judgement side. News shows that used to provide information are now more focused on spinning stories to cater to their audiences’ perspective. This further reinforces their views and judgement on others as opposed to presenting different perspectives for consideration. On social media, many share their opinions and when that opinion clashes with another person’s views of the world, I find it interested how it is initially met with strong judgement.

So, here’s my challenge for all of us, when we are presented with an opinion or information that goes against our view of the world, our beliefs and our way of living…. Let’s be more curious! Here are a few ways we can do this:

Start by reflecting on the judgement feeling we’re sensing… and recognize that this feeling started within us. Others cannot impose feelings or emotions on us. That is our reaction to what they shared.

Ask questions to learn more about the other person’s view. We may have jumped to conclusions about what the other person was trying to share.

Be open to expand our understanding on the topic or situation. There is always room to learn new things. What we learn from science keeps evolving.

Acknowledge that we might have been wrong in our views and make room for updates. You know, if we were still limited by the technology in our 1997 computer… we wouldn’t be as useful as we can be! So, how about we resurrect that inner 3 year old and ask a bunch of “why” questions. Let’s be more curious!