Choose to be Curious

09/08/2026

I harvest curiosity practices, ways large and small that people bring more curiosity into their lives. My favorites are the ones that are easy, fun, and surprising. The ones that provide illumination and inspiration in ways you just don’t see coming, until you do...

Practices like Street Wisdom’s World Wide Wander, coming Friday, 18 September 2026.

I hope you’ll join me to see what the world offers when we take a question for a walk.

If you happen to be in a place where the World Wide Wander is in person, join the curious crowd — and if not, join the *virtual* curious crowd! No better way to invest 90 minutes of your time than in reaping serendipity’s rewards.

Come wander with us! https://www.theworldwidewander.com

Street Wisdom

09/08/2026

I harvest curiosity practices, ways large and small that people bring more curiosity into their lives. My favorites are the ones that are easy, fun, and surprising. The ones that provide illumination and inspiration in ways you just don't see coming, until you do...

Practices like Street Wisdom's World Wide Wander, coming Friday, 18 September 2026.

I hope you'll join me to see what the world offers when we take a question for a walk.

If you happen to be in a place where the World Wide Wander is in person, join the curious crowd -- and if not, join the *virtual* curious crowd! No better way to invest 90 minutes of your time than in reaping hashtag 's rewards.

Come wander with us! https://www.theworldwidewander.com

09/06/2026

Why do I think what I think?

Really, THIS is what undergirds the entire curiosity conversation with Yale University Center for Civic Thought director Stephanie Ameida Nevin.

09/05/2026

"Helping ourselves see the ways in which we're actually really complicated, and our beliefs are complicated and conflicting, helps us to extend that grace to others." ~ Stephanie Almeida Nevin

09/04/2026

"The point," says Stephanie Almeida Nevin, of Yale University's Center for Civic Thought, "is to be in conversation together and see where it goes..."

That shouldn't be as radical as it is. Great conversation linked below.

09/03/2026

“There’s a certain risk aversion that happens. So, how do we create more of a culture of risk-taking that enables us to pursue our curiosity more?” ~ Stephanie Almeida Nevin, Yale University, Center for Civic Thought

09/03/2026

Yale University's Center for Civic Thought is dedicated to encouraging thoughtful public discourse and civically responsible intellectual life. It hosts small conversations designed to help participants practice disagreement, curiosity, and thinking without the pressure to perform.

Director Stephanie Almeida Nevin and I explored some of the many curiosity practices embedded in the Center’s efforts to ensure "untrammeled curiosity".

If you're like me, this idea of trammeled thinking — being captive in a loop of our own making — will stick with you, a vivid image of what happens when we swim along mindlessly, maybe going along with the crowd, neither heeding nor challenging where the waters are taking us.

The Yale Center for Civic Thought is dedicated to encouraging thoughtful public discourse and civically responsible intellectual life by helping students practice disagreement, curiosity, and thinking without the pressure to perform.

09/02/2026

"There are two different kinds of questions we ask. One question is: how do we generate new ideas of problems, goals, games? And the second question is: how do we select which one to focus on, in priority, when we're in a situation where we can express our curiosity?" ~ Pierre-Yves Oudeyer.

How do YOU decide where to focus on something new-to-you?

09/01/2026

It's paperback release day for Maggie Jackson's wonderful book Uncertain: The Wisdom & Wonder of Being Unsure. Celebrate the occasion with a listen to our surprising and rich discussion from 2024...I'll be celebrating by interviewing her later today about where the topic has taken her since then. Stay tuned: that convo is coming September 10th. FTW! 🥳

Certain words keep coming up in this curiosity context: exploration, innovation, creativity, trust-building, learning -- and uncertainty.And then along comes Maggie Jackson, award-winning author and journalist, with a best selling and thought provoking book on the power and potential of that oft-mal...

08/31/2026

Trying my hand at some weaving, which is proving to be very good medicine. Thank you Mirrix Looms for clearing my mind!