Curious and Creative

Tag: mental-health

  • Curiosity is an Antidote to Fear

    January 30, 2025

    Curiosity and fear are two different states in our minds, and they impact different parts of our brains.

    As we have evolved as humans, fear has become the internal warning system that is hard-wired to protect ourselves. Fear can trigger the fight or flight response when our brain senses a threat. The amygdala  region of the brain moves into the driver’s seat when a threat is detected. Contrarily, curiosity is driven by our desire to learn, explore and understand our surroundings. The pre-frontal cortex that is in charge of higher-order thinking lights up and kicks into gear when we are involved or curious.

    According to neuroscientists, curiosity and fear are considered opposing mental states. Curiosity is actively seeking information and engagement, while fear pulls us back from potential and perceived threats. Our brain shifts between the regions of the brain that are activated by curiosity or fear.

    “Here’s our powerful opportunity — by cultivating curiosity, we can calm our fears,” wrote Sara Hickman, Change Consultant at the website “Brave in the U.K.”

    Think of fears that you have. Are they spiders, snakes, death, or something else? One of the biggest fears that people have is public speaking. How many of you can relate to that fear? I learned that many would rather be in the coffin than give a eulogy at a funeral.  It is amazing to think that public speaking is more feared than death itself.  Does public speaking frighten you?  What does it feel like when you are fearful? A sense of dread may awash your body.

    Let’s imagine, you are attending a meeting. A co-worker makes an introduction and your name is announced. Now… it is your time to walk onto the stage. Perhaps the palms of your hands begin to sweat, your stomach starts to churn, and a lump in your throat forms, and your heart may begin racing. Fear can be felt in our bodies.  Don’t let your fear take over the wheel. You are still in control. Fear can be insidious, but you are not indefensible against it. The antidote…Curiosity.

    When your curiosity is piqued by an interesting fact or interesting tidbit, your brain enters the “curiosity state.” First, the parts of the brain which are sensitive to uncomfortable or unknown conditions and environments light up. Then the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, known as the pre-frontal cortex, comes online. Our brains then release the reward chemical dopamine. Dopamine has been found to intrinsically linked to the brain’s curiosity state. When you are curious and learning new facts and exploring the unknown, the brain floods our bodies with dopamine. Dopamine makes us happier.

    Would you rather be excited and energized by curiosity or sick to your stomach with fear? In the simplest terms, curiosity acts in the opposite way of fear. I know what I would choose. Do you?

    It is not that simple. We have train our bodies to start choosing curiosity over fear. It will take time to do so. Curiosity is not just an antidote, it is a mindset.

    Resources:

    Britannica Curiosity Compass. “The Science of Curiosity.” Retrieved on 1/29/2025 from https://curiosity.britannica.com/science-of-curiosity.html

    Discover Your Curiosity Type. https://curiosity.britannica.com/curiosity-personality-quiz

    Hickman, Sara. Director & Principal Consultant. “The Antidote to Fear is Curiosity.” Retrieved on 1/29/2025 from https://wearebrave.co.uk/the-antidote-for-fear-is-curiosity#:~:text=Fear%20and%20curiosity%20are%20like,powerful%20tool%20for%20managing%20fear%E2%80%A6.

    Noice, Cathy. “Curiosity: The Antidote for Fear. November 23, 2014. Retrieved on 1/29/2025 from https://workplacenavigator.com/2014/11/23/curiosity-the-antidote-for-fear/

    clip art courtesy of dreamstime.

  • How do you ask questions?

    January 16, 2025

    I once heard that there is no such thing as a “dumb” question, but one that is not asked. Many people hold back from asking questions, because they are afraid to look foolish or be embarrassed. If a question is in your mind, it might be one that others have as well. Ask the question.

    In my last blog, I asked my readers, “Do you ask questions?” In this blog, I am focusing on how you ask questions. The way you ask questions will give you the direction to the possible answers. How we ask questions of others and ourselves impacts and affects communication. I have learned that lesson many times over, particularly as a parent.

    As a child, my younger son did not ask “why” questions as often as he asked “how” questions. He wanted to know how to do things. If I asked if he cleaned his room, an overwhelming feeling of “where do I begin?”  would wash over him. Rather, if he could pick up the towels in his room and take them to the laundry room; he was able to do that.

    My younger son is now 26 years old. He was diagnosed twenty years ago with Asperger’s syndrome, more commonly known now as autism spectrum disorder. Over the preceding years, he was also diagnosed with audio processing challenges and attention deficit disorder (inattentive type), which can cause some communication challenges.

    Over the last two decades, I have learned to phrase my questions better, so I can help my son understand what I am asking of him. I am learning to speak more slowly. Admittedly, in the rush of the day, I am still working on slowing down, calling out his name and waiting for a response before asking a question or listing things to do. I am working to reduce what we call in our home, “drive by instructions.” I admit it some communication habits are hard to break without practice. I have learned that how we phrase questions can matter.

    I would like you to take a few moments to read the following scenario. Take your time. Here is a scenario:  You are in a tight financial position this month, as an unexpected expense came about. You’re stressed and finances are spread thinly.  If you asked yourself, “what should I do?” How would your mind process an answer? You may draw a blank, or panic, or just stare at a computer screen. Instead of asking yourself, “what should I do?”  Ask yourself “what could I do,” or,  “How am I doing now?”

    Phrasing questions may impact your brain’s information, an internet search, or something else from other individuals and sources. Take the time to consider the types of questions that you want to ask.

    Writer J. Robert Parkinson once heard a talk radio guest comment, “ask the wrong question, and you’ll get the wrong answer.” Parkinson wrote that although no one deliberately seeks a wrong answer, you might get one, if you do not give enough forethought to what question you want to ask.

    Parkinson suggested asking open-ended questions with “how,” “why,” or “what.” Using open-ended questions can collect a lot of info from the other person and about a particular subject.

    As I continued my research, I came across a blog from the Curiosity Tank.

    Here are some tips from that blog:

    • Identify and avoid leading questions, these are any questions that contain bias.
    • Remove any industry jargon or acronyms. Simplify.
    • Eliminate any unnecessary words.
    • Phrase questions in layperson terms.

    Here is some other advice: ask one question at a time. Pause after each question. Give the other person time to reply. Do not jump in after the initial reply. Pause again after hearing the initial response. It takes practice. Before asking a question, think about how you will ask it.

    Resources:

    Curiosity Tank blog “Question wording is Important.” Retrieved on January 15., 2025 from https://www.curiositytank.com/blog/question-wording-is-important

    Parkinson, J. Robert “Phrasing questions to get right information is a necessary art.”January 4, 2014. The Herald Tribune. Retrieved on January 15, 2025 from https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2014/01/04/phrasing-questions-to-get-right-information-is-a-necessary-art/29220850007/

    “Question Phrasing’”. Retrieved on January 15, 2025, from https://wp.stolaf.edu/iea/question-phrasing/

  • What is Creativity?

    1/5/2025

    That is a loaded question, indeed. The Oxford Dictionary defines creativity as the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Whereas, writer Dattopant Thengadi from the Indian government’s website CBWE, defined creativity as a characteristic of a person to generate new ideas, alternatives, solutions, and possibilities in a unique and different way.

    These were just some of the definitions of creativity. One of the definitions that I like and relate to the most I found on the Quora forum. Creativity is the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, products, or solutions. It involves combining existing knowledge and experiences in new and unexpected ways to create something original and useful, wrote freelancer Rajan Varghese.

    Varghese added that the most creative thing that a human can do is subjective and depends on individual perspective and experiences. Creativity allows individuals to express themselves. Individual creativity can make a positive impact on the world.

    How would you define creativity?

    BasicArts writer Alex Smith defined creativity as the ability to shepherd something into existence, manage its growth, allow it to become vibrant, and nurture it. Whereas, imagination is the ability to picture something that doesn’t exist. More often than not, if a person says they are not creative, they actually mean, they are not imaginative. They cannot come up with something at random.

    The late Sir Ken Robinson described creativity as a process of having an original ideas that have value. Creativity is not random. Creativity is putting imagination to work, and it has produced the most extraordinary results in our human culture.

    “The human mind is profoundly and uniquely creative and it all begins with imagination,” wrote Robinson from his book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative.

    During Robinson’s life, he made it his mission to transform education and organizations by a richer conception of human creativity and intelligence.

    Robinson wrote, there are misconceptions about creativity. Here are a few:

    1. Only special people are creative. This is not true. People have varying levels of creativity in different fields. If you are human, you have the power of being creative; yet you may not have developed that power fully.
    2. Creativity is about special things, i.e. the arts. Often people may say that they are not creative, it may mean that they are not artistic or musical. Robinson reported that you can be creative if you are a mathematician, software developer or business leader. Human intelligence is a possible site of original thinking. Rather than, asking are you creative? Ask how are you creative?
    3. The third misconception is you are creative or you are not. That is the end of that. Robinson disagreed with this conception. There is a lot you can do to become more creative. I will touch on that in a future blog post.

    In Robinson’s TED talk, “How Schools Kill Creativity.” Robinson stated “we are educating people of out of their creative capacities…I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.”

    Our current educational system and culture’s impact on our creativity as children and adults is a topic of its own that I’ll delve into in another blog post.

    I will end this blog by asking, What makes you creative?

    Resources:

    Robinson, Ken. Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. 2017. Capstone

    Smith, Alex “The crucial difference between imagination and creativity”. Basic Arts website. https://basicarts.org/the-crucial-difference-between-imagination-and-creativity/ retrieved on 1/3/2025.

    Thengadi, Dattoapnt, National Board for Workers Education and Development, Government of India. https://dtnbwed.cbwe.gov.in/images/upload/Creativity-and-Innovation_YYB3.pdf (retrieved on 1/3/2025)

    Varghese, Rajan, freelancer/poster on the Quora forum https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-definition-of-creativity-What-is-the-most-creative-thing-that-a-human-can-do. Retrieved on 1/3/2025.

    “Foundation of Creativity” Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. https://dpi.wi.gov/fine-arts/foundations-creativity retrieved on 1/3/2025.

  • Curiosity is A Vital Cognitive Tool, Nurture it.

    January 1, 2025

    Curiosity is more than a mere desire to know. It is a vital cognitive tool that shapes how our brain functions, learns, and adapts, wrote Matt Murrie, “The Impact of Curiosity on Brain Function: Exploring Cognitive Benefits,” (Whatifcuriosity.com)

    Psychologists Celeste Kidd and Benjamin Y Hayden have determined that curiosity is crucial to healthy development. Additionally, despite its pervasiveness, psychologists and social scientists have not agreed upon what curiosity is. Although there have been various barriers to defining curiosity over the last century, interest in studying curiosity has grown steadily among modern neuroscientists and psychologists.

    American Philosopher and Psychologist William James called curiosity an impulse towards better cognition. James summarized curiosity as a desire to understand what is known but not yet understood. Curiosity is a tool for increasing knowledge, a powerful motivator, and an innate human behavior.

    Although curiosity is a basic element of our cognition, its biological function, mechanisms, and neural underpinning remains poorly understood.

    According to writer Jeremy Schwartz, “How Curiosity Changes Your Brain,” we are born naturally curious. He adds curiosity is a desire to know more, be aware, our sense of curiosity can lessen over time.

    According to Psychologs, an Indian mental health online magazine, not everyone experiences curiosity in the same way. Educational and early childhood experience play a crucial role in nurturing or suppressing natural curiosity. Though it is thought that children are famously curious, healthy adults can maintain high level of curiosity throughout life. The focus may shift from a broad exploration to deeper, more specific interests.

    As our brains continue to grow and change throughout our lives, it changes the structure of our brains. Learning to think differently has longstanding effects on our brains, wrote Schwartz.

    As a thought enters our brain, neurons fire. As we learn and experience emotion, new neural paths are created and portions of our brain become larger. You can indeed change your brain with one action at a time, wrote Schwartz.

    According to Psychologs magazine, per an evolutionary perspective, curiosity provided our ancestors with significant survival advantages. A desire to learn about their environments helped our ancestors to identify dangers and opportunities.

    Interestingly, modern neuroscience has revealed new insights into how curiosity operates in the brain. When we encounter novel or puzzling information, it triggers our curiosity. That then releases dopamine involved with eating, sex, and other pleasurable activities. From that point, curiosity primes our brains for learning. The hippocampus, which is crucial for memory formation, becomes more active when we are curious. Indeed, research has shown that curiosity is a vital cognitive tool for growth.

    Resources:

    https://www.whatifcuriosity.com/post/the-impact-of-curiosity-on-brain-function-exploring-cognitive-benefits

    The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4635443/Retrieved on 12/29/2024.

    “How Curiosity Changes Your Brain” by Jeremy Schwartz, August 4, 2017. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4635443/ retrieved on 12/29/2024.

    “The Psychology of Neuroscience of Curiosity” by Psychologs Magazine. November 27, 2024. https://www.psychologs.com/the-psychology-and-neuroscience-of-curiosity/Retrieved on 12/29/2024. Psychologs is India’s first mental health magazine.