Are you waiting for knowledge to acquire you? It’s not going to happen while you are sitting there doing nothing. Get into action and go after knowledge. Go to a bookstore today and stroll along the shelves. What subjects interest you? Grab a book or two and take them home with you (after paying, of course). You can do the same exercise in the library if you don’t want to spend any money. Acquire a little knowledge today. Read something new and find out how it feels to increase your depth of knowledge.
DAY
204
“There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.”
— Charles Proteus Steinmetz
What happens when curiosity dies?
Nothing.
That is not good.
You should be curious about things always. Curiosity is the centerpiece of progress. Think about how many great men and women achieved incredible success because they were curious. Can you name a few people who are in our history books today because they asked questions and went after the answers? Open up your journal and brainstorm the names of individuals who are famous in our world today because of their curiosity.
Take one or two of those historical people and learn a little bit more about them today. Go online and pull up their biographies or stop by your local library and do a little research. What did you find out about them? How were they treated by their peers when they first started to find the answers to the questions they asked? How exactly did they achieve success through their discoveries? What can you learn from them and apply to your own life?
Don’t let anyone make you feel like a fool for asking questions. You can relax in the awareness that you can never possibly have too much knowledge. You are the smart one to indulge your curiosity. It is a fool who stops asking questions.
DAY
205
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
— Ellen Parr
Curiosity is a gift. It’s a gift and a cure, and it should be accepted with the joy and reverence it deserves. Curiosity relieves you of boredom. It gives meaning to your life. When you are searching for answers you have hope and optimism about how your life (and maybe even the lives of others) will change as a result of the knowledge you pick up to satisfy your curiosity.
On the other hand, curiosity can drive you crazy! Have you ever been so completely wrapped up in something that you can’t eat or sleep? Curiosity can very easily turn into obsession.
Thomas Edison kept a cot in his lab, because he never got much sleep. He had to take catnaps during the day to catch up. His mind was constantly turning over new ideas and asking questions that kept him up at night as he pondered them and looked for solutions.
You don’t have to become an insomniac to be successful, but it isn’t so terrible if curiosity cuts into your quality snooze time every once in a while. It’s a better alternative than complete boredom. The next morning you may be sleepy, but you will also be satisfied.
Sometimes people talk about curiosity as a disease for which there is no cure, but they say that with a twinkle in their eye. They know how exhilarating it is to pursue knowledge. Let your curiosity get a little out of control this week and enjoy the rewards.
DAY
206
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
— Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
The next few days will be spent exploring the benefits of fantasy. Dr. Seuss says in the quote above that fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. Do you agree? Or do you consider fantasy a waste of valuable time? Write about your thoughts.
Fantasy has to do with complete creative play. When you fantasize, you allow yourself to ponder improbable or impractical events. It doesn’t matter if what you are thinking about is totally unrealistic. Fantasy removes all limits to your imagination.
Why would you spend your time dreaming about stuff that has no basis in reality? Well, there are lots of reasons. Fantasy gives you permission to go so far outside the box that you may come up with real-life solutions that you never considered before. Another reason is that you honestly don’t know what is realistic and what is not realistic until you give your ideas a try.
One final reason is exemplified in Dr. Seuss himself. When Dr. Seuss first tried to get his children’s books published, he was rejected by twenty-seven publishers before one of them accepted his first book. It took a long time for the rest of the world to recognize Dr. Seuss’ creative genius, but he knew his fantasy could become a reality, and he never lost hope. At the time of his death in 1991, Dr. Seuss had published over forty-four children’s books in more than fifteen differently languages. There are more than two hundred million copies of Dr. Seuss’ fantasy world floating around the world today. Fantasy became reality.
DAY
207
“Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong.”
— Terry Pratchett
Fantasy does not have to ever turn into reality. Think of it like an exercise bike. When you ride the bike at the gym, you don’t actually go anywhere. You stay right in front of the big TVs watching CNN or ESPN SportsCenter or whatever you choose. You don’t have to get from Point A to Point B as a result of your effort. You stay right where you are, but you have stronger legs, fewer calories in your body, and maybe a little more information on why they fired your favorite football coach when you’re finished. That half hour on the stationary bicycle doesn’t complete a journey, but it is very useful.
The same is true of fantasy. When you engage in fantasy, you are exercising your brain. You are letting your mind come up with things that no one has ever considered before. You don’t have to walk away with something at the end of the exercise. It is simply engaging your brain in a new way, so that in the future your mind will be open to greater possibilities.
Your assignment today is to fantasize. If you’re not sure how to get started, pick three unrelated objects and write them down on a piece of paper. Now create a story that uses those three objects. It should not be in any way realistic. Let your imagination go crazy. You will not be turning this exercise in to a teacher. You can even burn it when you’re finished so that no one ever uses it as evidence against you. What you get out of it is the opportunity to remove the rules and exercise your brain without any limits.
DAY
208