Page 67 - TA Magazine Winter 2022

TRUS TING CURIO SITY

I turned around and was faced by my defiant 10 year old, feet planted in a the sunshine on the apples I pulled off of the outdoor display as I place them on the check-
rebellious standstill on the trail behind me. out belt. The logo tagged to the broccoli tells me it was grown over the hill at the nearby
Zen Center gardens. The sigh of the woman behind me tells me she might be in a bigger
“Find our own path? rush than me.)
What’s wrong with this trail?”
If we can be present and do what we are doing, or age quod agis, as it’s said in Latin, each
“It’s boring. moment is a gift. By leading with openness and curiosity, we allow ourselves to be available
If we keep going, can we at least agree to make a new path, to new opportunities.
through the bushes, on the way down?”
Embracing a Humble Mindset
My mind raced to consider the risks of his spontaneous approach: this included how little As we navigate through life, a humble mindset can also support living more like our inner
daylight we had left, the inevitable leg scrapes from the bushes, and a laptop spilling over child. There is so much I don’t yet know. I am just a small being in a sea of activity and
with emails at home. wisdom. What can I learn today? In accepting that we are “forever new beings” with a ca-
pacity to evolve and grow in even the most mundane of circumstances, we become students
There were a million and one reasons to talk him out of this suggestion that we make our of life. When we meet each minute with an open heart and curious mind, curiosity becomes
own path. But once back to the present moment, I realized there wasn’t really any major inevitable.
reason to not say yes. So what if we get a few leg scratches? The emails can wait. And who
cares if we eat dinner a little late tonight?
Listen to Yourself
22 So after a pause, I smiled and embraced a chance to explore the unknown with my son. You might be asking, but what about the dangers of new things? What 22
Y ANDERSON WINTER 20 As we age and maybe grow more skeptical of the world, if we scraped our knees as kids to carefully dodging any potential hurt as Y ANDERSON WINTER 20
“Sure, kiddo. We can make a new path on the way down,” I told him. We did. As expected,
we got some scrapes and bumps and we had to rely on my phone light to find our way home

hurt from laughing so hard.
awareness of what might harm us only grows. We went from not caring
62 in the dark. But amongst all this, something special happened: the next day, our stomachs about the risk that we will be hurt or taken advantage of? As we age, our 63
adults. If we can trust that voice within ourselves, the possibilities are end-
how do we keep our natural curiosity alive?
from our intuitive guidance.
route home, I almost missed the opportunity to play and discover in the woods with my
son. The chance to do something new. I almost let my mind, not my heart, navigate our
We all come into this life with a gift of our own intuition, our gut feeling, a guide of sorts.
C By allowing my mind and assumptions of calamity to tempt me to take a known and safe less. What we are open to often grows because we can discern reflexive fear C
TRA day, our time together. We can tune into it to discern whether we should go for something new, embark on an ad- TRA
venture with some risk, or pause and wait for safer, more secure conditions.
Keeping our childlike curiosity alive allows us to be open to the magic of life. This, in turn,
allows us to touch and serve others along the way. So when opportunities to go off the beat- As the years pass, we often turn the volume of that voice down and let our busy (and often
en path arrive, we must ask ourselves, What can we do to stay open to new experiences, live restrictive minds) take the driver’s seat. This makes us more cynical and limited to all kinds
more from our hearts and less from our heads, all the while trusting that we will be okay? of things, including those that could serve us magnificently. We allow our curiosity to wane
as we dismiss newness altogether for what might look or feel like a safer path.
Age Quod Agis, Do What You Are Doing
There are always times to move through a fear as a step forward in our growth. But if we are
To be curious we need to be truly present. We need to have the mind space to notice oppor- truly embracing the highs and lows of a life guided by openness to adventure, we also need
tunities to try something new and earnestly consider them. to listen to ourselves with discernment. Is this right? Is this safe? Is this the right way for me?
Often, with a pause, we can rest with peace in our intuitive answer and still explore, adven-
This isn’t always easy, what with our busy lives and the familiar tendency to cling to a ture, and tap into the unknowns that may only be discoverable with our curiosity at the helm.
predictable routine.
Whether it’s a new career twist, an emergent relationship, or a simple walk in the woods
I’ve considered this extensively. A first step might be to live more in the moment and notice with a child, we can embrace the wonder of our expanding world with our own awareness.
the fullness of any experience. This can be sitting with a mug of tea and asking yourself, When we are present, humble, and truly listen to ourselves, a universe of opportunity re-
What do I smell? What do I hear? How does my spine feel at this minute, tight or at ease?). veals itself to a curious being with a wise heart—even if that means getting lost in the woods
Or welcoming curious thoughts while in line at the grocery store. (I can still feel the heat of from time to time. TA