Just Curious..................

So what would your writing or your art look like if you had no curiosity, no inquisitiveness? Would it still have spunk, spontaneity, or an element of surprise? Chances are, as a writer, musician or other creative artist, your very nature is to be curious. Maybe you look at things from different angles, test proclaimed truth for yourself; believe that experience really is the best teacher? When you were young you tasted that mud pie, didn’t you? You probably dissected a baby pig or killed a frog for a science project. Your curiosity has taken you places you really didn’t want to go, more than a few times. It has embarrassed you and brought you pain, and great joy, too; more than likely. Ok, so you gave up dissection, but what about your inquisitiveness? As if that could be an option for you.   

Did your mom get miffed because you were the last one to get on board? Even as a child, you had to think it through, see what the outcome would be, in your mind, before you made a move? And, as a teen, when everyone else “got” some phrase or experience, in a certain way, you were already seeing or feeling it differently, building your own philosophy around it, in a way that was workable, even if only for you. You had to mull it over and that took time. Maybe, it looked like procrastination, skepticism or rebellion, at least, to others. Did it, at times, threaten to make you doubt yourself, your abilities, and your artistic talent?

While mom’s impatience grew thin, you were developing a very important tool of creativity; the ability to see and feel an experience in a, profoundly, different way. You curiously and deliberately followed your mind into the many scenarios for what that phrase meant, and later, what that poem was saying and what was hidden in those paintings. Imagine if your curiosity and inquisitiveness had been seen as something other than skepticism or rebellion? What if there had been time to nurture this creative aspect of an artist becoming, rather than rushing to that “nine to five” and all stops in between, job.

So there sits your child, now, looking at a piece of toast, examining it on both sides, pulling out the raisin to make a hole so she can peek at you. Is she being curious and inquisitive or holding up the schedule this morning? Of course, it is both. What choice will you make in the long-run? Will you start taking these moments as opportunities to help her build on her spontaneity, her inquisitiveness, and ultimately her creativity? Or, will you forever whisk her off to get dressed, and get going, perpetuating that over-rated, “rat race” mentality and obsessive time-managed lifestyle?

The schedule wins out, today. You rush her and yourself to the car. You wonder how many tomorrows will it win? You reason if she is truly gifted she will find a way to shine, unbridled, by a fast world and its many time constraints.

Maybe, but, you know in your heart the luxury of time, and a caring, loving, atmosphere to explore seemingly mundane things, could go a long way toward her creative acceleration.  So now, you’re curious how to achieve that for yourself and ultimately for her. Her heightened abilities, confidence, and success, at whatever, she becomes, may depend on it. ~ S. Marie Vernon