By Denise Connell, Publisher; Éclairity.org Founder
The window was opened, and that made all the difference.
It was a normal Tuesday afternoon with nothing on the horizon but tapping keys, jotting notes, and moving the day’s agenda to completion. Sitting at my desk for hours straight – something I keep telling myself not to keep doing – I was determined this would be the day I’d finally tear the to-do list to shreds and toss it in the trash, triumphant at last.
I was focused on being efficient and effective, even spurning Snow’s attempts to get my attention, his paw repeatedly patting my face. But I pounded onward unthwarted, myopic in mining data and dissecting numbers.
Until.
Soulful and slow, lyrical and lilting, a Celtic melody crossed over from perceived imagination into reality. Appearing out of the mist of the surreal, suspended briefly in its moment of transition, it took form softly until the full-throated notes of another era completed its transformation. Dazzled senses said goodbye to the doldrums in mere seconds. I was transfixed.
What is that?! Reggie, do you hear it?
Yeah! Where’s it coming from?
I don’t know… the high school? Maybe someone just drove by with the window down? Wait, no, it’s still playing…
We were suddenly paying attention to something beyond our computers, both of us on our feet now and looking out. Out the open window, beyond the house, past the practical to consider the potential, the impractical, the now-possible.
Curiosity has an uncanny power to solicit action, and new directions.
Reggie looked out the living room windows, and then through the kitchen. I stepped out onto the front porch certain it was coming from the south where the students could be practicing.
I bet they’re preparing for a St. Patrick’s Day event.
No – he’s out here, out back!
What?! Who?
Out the back door and through the side window we spotted the magical source: a lone, thirty-something year old man sitting on the low cement wall between our property and the next, playing a recorder-like instrument as we had never heard played before. If we had closed our eyes, we could easily have found ourselves in the 12th century. Was it Ireland? Japan? The music flowed and followed its own design, singing new life into the oldest scene of a common town, its sidewalks, cars and traffic lights melting away, making room for imagination and new creation.
Thanks to this man and his song, the ordinary day gave way to the extraordinary.
While Reggie went back to work, I stayed by the open window and listened, wondering the why behind this man’s choice to sit here, today, with his recorder and music, inhibition thwarting the norms. It was beautiful. Unexpected. Inspiring.
I watched until he finished, timed to perfection as a school bus pulled up and his kindergarten daughter descended the steps into his open arms. Swinging her to his shoulders, he walked down the street and everyday life returned. The doldrum-buzz of traffic refilled the air where mere seconds before the 12th century had dazzled.
And I wondered, how close are we to the extraordinary if we only opened the windows more often?
Neuroscience teaches us that novelty, such as a new experience, environment, or concept, releases dopamine – that reward-giving, motivating chemical in our brains – and opens us to exploration and learning. Novelty can be both a primer for curiosity, and a reward for the curious.
Like the unexpected music playing outside our house.
And curiosity, whether the novel is yet known or not, catapults us into the creative, compelling us to follow the trail of the unknown, to ask the questions, to wonder and imagine, explore and expand.
“Curiosity is a catalyst for creativity,” David Culberhouse wrote in Novelty: Moving Past Creative Complacency, because a “curious mindset provokes us to continually evolve through ongoing learning that leads to new knowledge, new thinking, new ideas, bending us to new possibilities.”
Who of us wouldn’t benefit from new ideas and new possibilities?!
Maybe we need to consider being more like this man and his recorder.
Because of this man’s choice to buck the norm and do something different, he introduced the novel and beautiful and curiosity-stirring experience into our environment.
Because of this man’s choice to play his instrument outside - risking mistakes being made in public or being mocked by passersby - we gained a needed respite from our work, a fresh mind for our tasks, and deeper thinking about how risk and curiosity pave the way for discovering the new and possible.
He played his music. He introduced the novel. He expanded the possibilities of what the everyday could hold. And because he did, he inspired us to do the same.
New ideas and possibilities need both the window opened and the brave to play.
Which will you do today?
According to the NOAA, “The ‘doldrums’ is a popular nautical term that refers to the belt around the Earth near the equator where sailing ships sometimes get stuck on windless waters.”
For all our doldrum places and spaces, let’s do ourselves a favor and fling our windows open wide for all the winds to blow. The music will be sure to follow.
1. What are 5 topics that pique your curiosity? If you were given all the time you wanted - and the money and support you needed - to freely explore, learn about, and immerse yourself into a certain topic, what 5 would you want to explore?
2. What could you do this week to "open your window" - free your schedule, set aside some time, shift your attention - so you could follow the trail of your curiosity? Could you crack it open for 30 minutes? An hour would be even better! See what you can say "no" to, so that you can say "yes" to exploring something novel, different, and let the wind of possibilities breathe life on you.
3. Take a little "novel experience" excursion and let your curiosity out to play this week. Maybe there's a cafe you've wanted to try, or a hiking trail. What about that little museum you've wondered about, or even a road that you've never driven down but always wonder what's around the corner? Maybe it's time to do research online, or stop in a book store. Or try yoga. Or a new recipe. Whatever is something new for you, try it. New perspectives, experiences and ideas are waiting to be set free!
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