EP 394: Are you curious? Or are you furious?

As we experience life and the actions and words of others, we often fall into a pattern based reactivity that leads to emotions like anger and resentment. These emotions, based in fear, will almost always trigger the stress response in our bodies, posing all kinds of mental, physical, and emotional health risks. Practices like forgiveness and compassion will help to mitigate the negative effects of stress by neutralizing it’s source, but it’s also possible to step further back and avoid those negative emotions altogether. Probably the best way to achieve this level of healthy interaction with the world and people around us is to simply allow curiosity to lead us. Curiosity encourages us to understand a given person or situation. In understanding, we find response as opposed to reaction. We find empathy and compassion instead of anger and resentment. And in the end, curiosity allows us to remain present and open so we can show up to our lives and the people we love. Best of all, curiosity can be practiced and developed in less time than you might think. Would you like to learn more?