What is curiosity, how to increase it and what are its benefits?

"Boredom is cured with curiosity. Curiosity will not heal anything." Dorothy Parker

Curiosity is a need for knowledge, it has to do with a positive set of emotions, feelings and motivations, which are related to the identification and search for new experiencess. Through curiosity, the experience of new experiences that pose a challenge is promoted.

Trait curiosity is about general trends, state curiosity has to do with a particular immediate moment.

In a research projects. of George Mason University, conducted by Todd Kashdan and his collaborators, the 90 participants (45 men and 45 women) were asked if they agreed with phrases such as “Being actively interested in something, it is not difficult for me to interrupt ”. With this study, it was concluded that curious people had higher levels of satisfaction in their lives, so that people with high levels of curiosity seem to find more meaning in their life and therefore be fuller, and also relate better to people. In contrast, those with low levels of curiosity obtained satisfaction from fleeting pleasures with the activities they did.

Curious people are often surrounded by new activities and stimuli, for which they are rewarded in the long term, as they are constantly being amazed at what is new and this generates great satisfaction.

Curiosity is known to affect health too. In 1996, a study in the journal Psychology and aging, in which more than 1,000 older adults participated, who were under 5 years of observation, It was found that the most curious had a higher average life span, these individuals tended to live longer than the less curious individuals.

In the field of social relationships, people with higher levels of curiosity generally have greater success, since they show greater interest and openness in meeting new people and know how to maintain this interest in people already known whom they want to continue meeting. more. It is also easier to relate to very curious people, since they ask questions and are interested in interactions with others.

Another benefit of having a curious personality is a fuller and happier life, They enjoy experiences more, they have a greater capacity to open up to them and to be constantly surprised, they also relate better with people and this makes it possible for them to have closer ties and ease to meet new people. All this reinforces the positive influence of curiosity in our lives, since it promotes happiness.

Curiosity is closely related to academic success, understanding it as thirst for learning and new knowledge, curiosity motivates us to increase our culture Through new data, it helps increase academic achievement.

Some people are more prone to curiosity than others also express it in different ways. Curiosity is something that can be developed, that is, our innate sense of curiosity can be exercised. Increasing curiosity depends on our motivation, It is important to look for more on topics that arouse our interest and cultivate ourselves in them, in order to enhance exposure to new challenges and experiences that enrich us more.

To enhance our curiosity, it is essential lose the fear of uncertainty and the unknown. It would be wise to try to learn to enjoy uncertainty, It seems complicated, because it instinctively produces anxiety and the certainty makes us feel that we will be more secure and comfortable. We can train ourselves to lose the fear of uncertainty if we constantly expose ourselves to new activities that mean little challenges for us, so the sfeeling of surprise and excitement will make us feel rewarded and realize that there is nothing to fear to the unknown.

We must not let our prejudices limit us, another interesting activity to enhance curiosity, is to find the unknown in the known, for this it works to forget about expectations, judgments, concepts and preconceptions to allow ourselves to be surprised again.

Remember that when we were children, our very nature urged us to be curious, to ask all kinds of questions, to want to smell, touch, hear and see everything, we wanted our senses to explore our environment, our thirst for learning seemed insatiable. As we grow we gradually lose this curiosity, because we get used to many things the more we experience them, but it would be interesting if we try to regain our capacity for wonder, without letting routine adult and conventional life annihilate our ability to surprise and be curious ,