You Cant Be Mad If Youre Curious

I’m not sure where I first heard this idea or where it came from, but it really spoke to me.

When I was a teacher, I used to tell my students that anger was an emotion, just like the all the rest. But in my 30’s, I’m realizing that it’s a little bit more dangerous than other emotions. With anger, it’s easy to hit a wall. To slam face first and then not be able to recover for a while. Other emotions can be a little bit more subtle, gentle perhaps.

But if anger sends us flying toward the ground from an airplane, then curiosity is the parachute.

What is curiosity if it isn’t a simple pause between us and our emotions? We can sit on the park bench and wonder for a while, we can avoid colliding with things, we can just simply be aware of what’s in front of us.

You can’t be mad if you’re curious in the same way that you can’t clench your teeth wearing a night guard. The muscle has no room to contract. To be angry puts our heart into a box, but to wonder and be curious puts us our heart on a hillside, staring into the infinite.