Month: July 2023

Choose to be Curious

Street Wisdom

Posted on by Lynn Borton

“Curiosity is pre-meaning-making. I would say that curiosity is a first step into meaninglessness — after which you can make meaning.” ~ David Pearl

I can think of no better way to mark the rather miraculous milestone of my 200th episode than with a conversation about walking and wonder. David Pearl is an innovator in business and the arts. He’s also inventor and founder of Street Wisdom, an exercise in meticulous whimsy that helps us find inspiration from strolling the streets around us. 

If you’re not curious, you tend to stay in the highways, not the byways, and you tend to stay within boundaries that your brain says, “You’re safe, you’re knowledgable.” 
…And  you can go far, but you don’t go wide.

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #200: Street Wisdom, with David Pearl

Listen to Choose to be Curious #200: Street Wisdom, with David Pearl

September 29, 2023 is the World Wide Wander. Join me and other Choose to be Curious fans as we join others around the globe in a day devoted to wondering and wandering in community, across six continents.

Read more about David Pearl and his truly delight-full work with Street Wisdom.

This isn’t the first time I’ve focused on walking. In fact, I celebrated my 50th episode by walking to all sorts of new-to-me places. Check out these other conversations: Ep. #33: Placemaking with Graham Coreil-Allen and  Ep. #77: Taking Curiosity In Stride,

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Derailed” by Depot, via Blue Dot Sessions. 

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on iTunes.

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop! 

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Curiosity at Work

Posted on by Lynn Borton

“Some people didn’t like me asking questions…” ~ Helen Chamberlin

I first got interested in curiosity as a management tool in my role as chief operating officer at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), a national grassroots nonprofit organization. NAMI had about 80 employees and nearly 1,000 mostly volunteer-led affiliates  when I was there — and it was basically my job to know everything. 

But I became convinced I was better at my role if I didn’t know everything, and came at the work with curiosity instead. 

So I made myself a student of the subject. I’ve been studying it ever since…

Do others in comparable roles feel the same way, I wondered? What lessons have they learned? 

Helen Chamberlin is executive director of the Rehoboth Beach FIlm Society, in Rehoboth Beach, DE. She joins me to consider curiosity at work…

Listen to Choose to be Curious #199: Curiosity at Work, with Helen Chamberlin

Check out the Rehoboth Beach FIlm Society and the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival.

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Jog to the Water” by Duck Lake, via Blue Dot Sessions. 

You can subscribe to Choose to be Curious on iTunes.

Wear your curiosity on your sleeve. Check out the Choose to be Curious shop!

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