How To Live A Curious Life and Find More Happiness

Life is curious. Be curious about life.

Photo by Jake Ingle on Unsplash

I believe that the key to a happier life is obsessive curiosity.

I am part of what I call the Curious Cult. I’m so obsessed with the concept of curiosity that I’m writing my next book about The Curious Company.

Curiosity might seem simple but this basic concept is wrapped in deep complexities that you can’t imagine until you start to become curious.

My curiosity started at a very young age.

When I was seven or eight years old my parents took me to church one Sunday morning. I was born into a Greek family and at that time my parents were “practicing” Greek Orthodox followers. I vividly remember watching people walk into the church entrance hall and kiss a painting of Mary on the left side of the hall and then walk over and kiss a painting of Jesus on the right.

My mother ushered me towards the painting of Mary and lifted me so that my lips could kiss Mary’s. I point blank refused. She insisted. I refused more aggressively. She whispered aggressively that I was embarrassing her and to just do it. I continued to refuse (see point 2).

She put me down back on god’s Earth and I was then ushered towards the painting of Jesus where I watched a very old Greek woman slop her smooches all over Jesus. Again, my mother picked me up and insisted I kiss Jesus. You can guess what happened next. I refused.

I won but only because the line of Greeks behind us had backed up and the church ceremony was about to be delayed because of my rebellion.

I don’t remember being intentionally rebellious. I wasn’t trying to irritate anyone or offend the believers. I was looking for answers (see point 1). I was curious about why I was being forced to kiss some painting that resembled a person who lived 2000 years ago. Being in the middle of church and pissing off my parents wasn’t the ideal time or place to have my curiosity satisfied but that was the day I remember first noticing that I lived by a slightly different set of rules than the people around me. From as young as I can remember I have questioned absolutely everything. “Why” is probably the most used word in the history of my vocabulary.