Curiouser & Curiouser

Sometimes a groove becomes a rut.Damn it.How did that happen? You explored and investigated. You dreamed, experimented, searched, traveled down one road, another, another…and then you found your groove. Your sweet spot. What you love to do. What you were born to do. Your passion.You fuel that passion. You work that groove. You etch your life in that groove. You… settle in. It begins to feel pretty comfortable in that groove. So comfortable that your CQ plummets.CQ? What’s that? I hope you were immediately curious. Because CQ stands for Curiosity Quotient. That’s a measure (well, not really a statistical measure, like IQ) of how powerfully motivated you are to learn something new, to not comfortably settle in but to keep exploring, investigating, dreaming, searching, asking questions, taking on new challenges. Venturing out of that groove that over time started to become a rut. You know: Shaking it up.Having a high CQ means having a hungry mind and an adventurous spirit. It means active engagement in the world. It means seeking novel experiences, both to learn from them and just for the hell of it. Or rather, the joy of it. Because it turns out that curious people have a greater sense of well-being than indifferent or disinterested or asleep-at-the-wheel or comfortably-in-the-rut people. I’m not just talking about subjective feelings here, either. I am talking, yep, science.When we move out of our comfort zone to try something new, our brain produces a chemical known as dopamine – aka the “feel good hormone” – which makes us, that’s right, feel good. Curiosity elevates mood (as it enriches our experience and widens our view). The curious among us are a high-spirited and energetic lot. The curious among us have a sense of wonder about the world. I might even say a “child-like wonder.”Remember child-like wonder? The natural high of discovery? When is the last time you felt that? It may be time to rekindle curiosity and boost your CQ.“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious” –    Albert Einstein