After coming across Chip Conley’s wonderful Emotional Equations grid last week, I have been exploring the impact that some of these emotions have on our lives. I first looked at the ‘Happiness Quotient’ where I outlined how keeping a positive attitude is key to prevailing sanity in these tough times. I then looked at the ‘Anxiety Equation’ where I stepped into the feeling and channelled my energy into what I could control – the re-ordering of my Berlin bookshelves! I also wanted to share my thoughts on curiosity, an equation and theme of great interest to me.
By definition curiosity is “an eager wish to know or learn about something” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). Psychologist Todd Kashdan calls curiosity ‘the engine of growth.’ As Conley explains it, curiosity is the relationship between wonder and awe. For me, curiosity is all of this and so much more!
This period of containment has forced me to channel my intense curiosity into two areas that create wonder and awe for me. These lie well within the lockdown restrictions and so I would like to share them! One is TV – I will explain forthwith why it is wonderful and so so helpful. The other is my natural haven of awe – books!
As a young historian, I was often asked at University to consider two debating stimuli: what single act at what precise time, if done totally differently would have created a different, more powerful result? An example is the ‘Bay of Pigs’ crisis which threatened the whole world order at the time. A blog in its own right, I think!! And, Joan of Arc (pictured below), one of my favourite female medieval characters, who was burned at the stake by the English after managing to turn the tide of war in favour of France. Putting my historian hat back on and asking the second question, if we turned back time and asked ourselves what invention would have had the most impact on history? My answer would be TV and Aspirin, of course!
TV is a wonderful invention and is naturally personified for me in great part by the BBC. Despite being vilified for its monopolistic status, waste, over layering, inequality on pay and deep institutionalised liberalism, the BBC is so powerful in times of real crisis for accurate reporting and fair message representation. On September 11th 2001, I sat glued to the TV waiting for the BBC to share inputs and tell me what was really happening – even though I could see the carnage happening below in downtown NY from my apartment window. Each night as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, I listen to the PM’s inputs plus the media’s Q&As. What the BBC thinks and advises is honest and sincere, which I find remarkably comforting in times of deep uncertainty.
The sheer volume of great TV and the shared connectedness we feel through comedy, drama and nature is what I believe helps us and makes us truly human. What we can learn about each other and our world, the dangers we are all facing and the amazingly different ways our cultures respond through the screen is inspiring! When my siblings and I were asked, “why do you Greens read so much?” the answer was true and stands today: it was the best thing for us to do in our rural hamlet to learn about the lives of others and journey mentally far afield. As a lifetime reader, books are my natural haven of awe and during this time I’m finding some real gems!
I was recently asked to do a few short book reviews:
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – from my nephew, Billy Green
- A Silver Thread by Tracey Chevalier – from my close friend and big book buyer, Jenny Peters
- The Enzo Macleod Box Set by Peter May – from my big time reader brother, Jimmy
- The Guardians by John Grisham – also from Jimmy!
This has sparked a new idea: a book reviews series! I’d value your inputs here – please share any great recommendations, approaches or entertaining books you’d like my views on!
In gathering my thoughts on curiosity, I truly believe it is the fertilizer of the mind that keeps us open to learning and questioning! A quote from Albert Einstein to end on:
