Happy Sunday, friends!
Can you remember the last time you felt seen by someone (even if you barely knew them)? Why do you think this was?
I can imagine you felt this way because of a thoughtful question. Or an insightful observation. Or a detail paid attention to about you!
You weren't just anybody, you were a somebody. Another person had this quality toward you: curiosity, our word of the week.
Curiosity: the desire to learn or know about anything.
We truly get to know others when we enter relationship leading with curiosity.
To have curiosity means you don't assume. You don't judge. You just desire to know something that you don't know. That's all.
It sounds simple, but it's harder than it seems.
With only a month to our national election in the United States, if your community is anything like mine, tensions are felt. Judgments are everywhere! You see yard signs, you think you know your neighbors.
I was with a group of religious leaders recently, and the sentiment on everyone's minds seemed to be the "after." How will our communities get along after? The aftermath of the 2016 and 2020 elections so polarized many of our communities and relationships. Few of us want to go back to that.
But, I tell you this is where I have hope: curiosity.
So today I'm wondering, how can you enter conversations with curiosity before assuming anything about your family/ friend/ neighbor?
How can you listen before you judge?
Can you listen for the why someone supports a cause . . .
Can you listen for the why someone carries a particular anger . . .
Can you listen for the why someone feels afraid and acts with complusion . . .
Curiosity is a great starting point of being in relationships with more authenticity.
Of course, you might still be at point A and your friend at point B after you finish listening. To be curious, is not to have any intention of swaying your neighbor's point of view. But your curiosity does this: it humanizes others.
Curiosity begets a different way of life where respect connects instead of animosity separating.
So, how can you have a curious conversation with this week?
If there is anything I know for certain: the world really needs YOUR curiosity.
XO
Elizabeth
P.S. If this topic rings your bell at all, I would encourage you to head over to learn more about the work of Braver Angels. It's a wonderful organization with a mission to help coming together in curiosity-- Democrats, Republicans and folks in the middle alike. I participated in one such group and wrote about it in Brave Church.
