Curiosity & Inspiration

Find inspiration everywhere! Why staying curious is good for you.

Miss Tish - def curious when not asleep

Curiosity & Inspiration - Some questions:

Are you inspired?

Are you a curious person?

Where do you look for inspiration?

Does this have anything to do with Pilates?

and finally…

Did curiosity really kill the cat?

photo by NeONBRAND

Let’s start with the last question first - Did curiosity kill the cat?

I don’t think so - not at all!

In the no brainer category of research - and that anyone who’s spent time with teenagers could have told you - studies show that young people remember factual information better on topics they’re curious about.

What’s also in the research is that in ageing adults curiosity helps contribute to better cognitive, mental and physical health. Hmmm, curious, no?

That’s great news however, here’s an observation - even though we know curiosity is intuitively a good thing it can get lost and ignored because we’re just too dang busy and caught up in the day to day of living/surviving to pay much mind to it.

I feel lucky 🍀

My life has simplified enough in the last 18 months giving me more space to rediscover things that I used to enjoy doing. Plus I have the time to check out new things that have piqued my curiosity (Animal Flow I’m talking about you!)

yes, that's still my cat, Tish

Finding Inspiration

Since we know that curiosity is good for our health it’s important to carve out some time to rediscover things that interest us.

Once we make the time how can we stimulate our curiosity?

Well I see it intertwined with inspiration.

So, where do we look for inspiration?

I don't know about you but things, events, people, ideas all inspire me, If something sounds interesting I might look into it and what I learn might cause me to expand my world view a little bit.

When I discover or hear of something interesting I can go right down some pretty deep rabbit holes but maybe rabbit holes is the wrong metaphor, maybe it should be rabbit warrens instead?

I randomly follow trails, or interesting things that pop up, in what feels like a million different directions getting excitedly curious about each new thing, person, or idea I’m discovering.

I tell myself that I’m expanding my horizons (which I think is mostly true but I do make sure that I'm using reputable sites 😉 )

photo by Mikołaj

This blog topic actually popped into my mind from a book I’ve been reading. After reading a review of it somewhere inside a rabbit warren I snagged it from my local library.

if you didn’t know, I’ve had a love affair with the library pretty much my whole life but over the last several years had fallen out of the habit of having a book or two or five on the go; now I’m back at it and rediscovering reading has been so much fun

So, the book by Ed Le Brocq. is not only about music; I’m finding many, many salient points about life and passion, being true and brutally honest with yourself, and the relationships between students and teachers - there’s so much wisdom between the covers (and I am only half way through).

I’ve started to check out some of the things mentioned in the book, for example pieces of music that I'm not familiar with, because they made me curious. I listen to them to see if they inspire me in any way.

I’m also inspired (which I know is twee) by those damn random quotes you find everywhere, especially all over social media. Some of them really resonate with me and here’s one of my recent favourites. It from a box of morning mantras from Lisa Messenger of Collective Hub:

Seriously, isn't it great??

Okay, affirmations aside, my curiosity is mostly sparked by something I’ve read, heard on the radio, or been told about by a friend.

This sends me down, down, down, into the warren where I can start exploring ideas, artists, or people that I wouldn’t naturally be drawn to and see what they have to say. These dives can offer up things to consider that are outside my natural sphere of influence.

(just to be clear, sometimes I'll look at something that I'm really curious about, find it amazingly meh or something I already know, and then try not to waste anymore time on it)

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Now for the Pilates connection (finally!)

One thing I love about curiosity & inspiration is how they influence my teaching.

Because I’ve been teaching for so long I’m past the time where I feel like I don’t know anything. However, there are heaps of Pilates teachers out there that cause me to re-think what or how I’m teaching.

A cool thing about following my curiosity though is that it’s not just Pilates teachers that inspire me. I love applying non Pilates ideas or concepts into how I teach.

While I’m not compelled to adhere to any one person’s ideas or do a 180 on my teaching, sometimes I might tweak the information or how I deliver it to my clients. I’m always striving to teach the Pilates Method in an easy to understand way.

Because I know and trust my own mind I’d call this overlay of curiosity & inspiration Discernment.

What do you think?

Here’s my rallying cry:

My overall wish for you is just to stay curious & get inspired but always use your discernment (some of those rabbit holes are and twisty)!!!

Thanks for reading,

xBec

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and Rebecca Forde disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this post