Finding Curiosity

The message I got from my brain yesterday was as follows:

Replace worry.

To which I said, huh?

And then I got this:

Replace worry with curiosity.

Curiosity.

I like this so much!

Normally when people say things like “just stop worrying about it” or “don’t worry so much”, I feel frustrated.

Because it’s not that simple. Definitely not for me. I can’t do it. I don’t know how. And it generally seems kind of violent.

Because the traditional ways of “DON’T WORRY!” tend to involve repressing or delegitimising all the internal stuff that comes together to create anxiety.

It’s like fighting your MONSTERS......not recommended.

But when I bring in curiosity, I still get to interact with my small, scared, anxious parts. In fact, I get to interact with them even more.

Only now it’s in a way that’s receptive, non-judgmental, inquisitive, and caring. I’m not pushing the worry away. Just extracting its essence.

And the main point.

This is not about not worrying. Some things in life are worrisome. They just are.

We still get to give legitimacy to everything that’s hard. We’re totally allowed to have worry. It’s part of being human.

And we get to be curious about what help us get a little breathing room. Moving from tension into possibility.

We get to be curious about perspective — where we’re standing in relation to the worry.

So useful.

"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
~~ Arnold Edinborough


Wilson - my beautiful, relaxed cat - March 2010.




Ellie - my pretty girl who loves to wake me up in the wee hours - September 2009.

Being Human..Interesting Rules

I was cleaning out my spare room and came across a sheet of paper entitled "Rules for Being Human".

I never knew there are rules for being a human. Actually the rules are not exactly the "rules" that state whether you're a real human or not. There's no such thing I guess. But these rules are more into the essence points in life that we, as a human, should be able to learn.

I am sure some of you have read them before, but it is an interesting read and a very nice reminder to get back to the basics of living.

Is living really as simple as it sounds using these rules. I suspect it is.

Society these days want us to think & perceive that life to complicated, WHY? For power, greed & oppression I suspect. I like the KISS principle "Keep It Simple Sweety".


1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error: experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here."
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Life is exactly what you think it is.
You create a life that matches your beliefs and expectations.

10. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

11. You will get what you ask for.
It may not be what you wanted, but it will be what you asked for.

12. You will forget all this.

- Cherie Carter-Scott from "Chicken Soup for the Soul"

I would like to add this one.
13. You can remember it whenever you want.



I climbed a mountain yesterday and when I reached the top this is what greeted me......it felt really wonderful being human.


View from Barrenjoey Lighthouse, Palm Beach, Sydney, 16 August 2009.