Practicing Curiosity

My life became incredibly peaceful once I stopped wrestling with reality & began looking inward to understand my discontentment. In doing this, I’ve started seeing life through a lens of curiosity. ⠀
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This is to ask: “Why did that comment hurt me?” Instead of “What they said was hurtful and mean. They’re a bad person.” It is to sit with pain, to feel the burning of that hurt and say “I know I will grow from this” instead of “What did I do to deserve this?”⠀
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There is so much power in inquiring with ourselves. Why does this scare me? Why do I want them to like me? Why did I say that mean thing? What am I dealing with internally that made me hurt someone else? ⠀
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My friends and I often say that there is no greater trait than self awareness. To practice constant inquiry is to transcend self awareness. It is consciousness. It allows us to welcome peace and reject our ego and the stories it tells us about why we’re special, or why we’re justified in belittling others, or why we’re not enough. ⠀
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I will proceed in life, asking question after question to myself, seeking compassion and forgiveness for everyone I encounter - myself included.
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Come as they may, each season of life invites growth and love for every individual. It is a matter of approaching life with curiosity and a desire to learn rather than with entitlement and righteousness. Life is not easy for anyone. There exists an illusion of separateness among people; it is what makes you different from me or me different from her. But it is just that — an illusion. Your heart will grow sizes that you never could’ve imagined when you choose to see oneness instead of separateness. None of us are all that different from the stranger next to us. Maybe we think we are, but again, that’s a thought we choose to believe. ⠀
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So here I am, encouraging you to practice introspection next time you want to judge someone’s Instagram post or make assumptions about people in your life. Remember, the only person you really know is you. ⠀
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I leave you with these words that I find great comfort in: you are where you are, and that is where you need to be right now.