With Curiosity Towards the New Normality

Restrictions are easing in Europe and the lockdown is slowly lifting. But are we ready for the new normality?

Here in Spain, we have a new term: the return to the new normality. Yes, we are getting back to normal and yes, it will be new.

While this new triggers fear in many people I’d say let’s trade fear for curiosity. Fear closes us down. Curiosity opens us up. Fear is usually what we feel before we give up. Curiosity is what we felt as a child when we learned to walk. When we explored the world around us. Curiosity is what made us learn, adapt, grow. And curiosity was constantly by our side during our school years and later on, in our travels and our discoveries. When we pick up a new hobby, we feel curious to discover that new world. When we plan a journey, we feel curious to learn more about a new culture. Curiosity is what pushes us forward, what helps us grow, what makes us human.

So, how about we treat this new normality with curiosity rather than fear that things might not be as they were. With an open mind, rather than being stuck in the past and assuming or desperately wanting everything to be the same as it was before the lockdown. How about if we play along with this new normality and we open up to discover it little by little, just as we discovered the world when we were children?

New questions might come to our mind. Things like: How does this feel? What’s new? What does this mean for me? What’s the gift in this new situation? What’s the goodness?

When we become adults we tend to lose this feeling of curiosity. We assume that we know how the world works, how we are. How things are, or should be. A child lives in wonder and is constantly learning. An adult generally settles for what he or she knows already and demands no change.

But what if we become children again and reclaim this sense of curiosity. If we don’t assume that we know how things should be or who we are. We may come out of this lockdown as different persons than who we used to be. A lot has happened in these two months. A lot has changed, inside and outside us. Let’s embrace this with curiosity. Who am I? What do I like? What do I want to do? Don’t assume the answer to these questions is what used to be two months ago. If you’re ready to treat the world around you with a sense of childlike wonder, treat yourself in the same way too. Allow yourself to be surprised by who you have become. Make friends with these new parts, welcome them into your life.

As shamans, when we have a healing session with a client we never take notes. We don’t even make a point to remember what the client has told us and we never take that information to the next session. Why is that? Because we choose to treat a client as a new person every time he or she comes for a session. We don’t assume the issues he or she came with last time are still there. Maybe they are but maybe they are not. And we, as healers, don’t want to hold the client in the same old matrix.

Think of how often we do this. We usually hold people we know in a box: “I know how this person is". In fact, we don’t know. We only remember how this person used to be last time we interacted. But we don’t know how this person is today. Who they are right now. And how we are going to perceive them now.

So, as the restrictions ease and we get out of our homes once again, let’s step out into this new normality with curiosity. Looking for the best so that the best in us and in the world can manifest. After all, quantum theory tells us that the experiment is influenced by the observer. Let’s chose what we observe and how we make sense of it all. What we retain and what we let go of. And let’s do this with a regained sense of curiosity and childlike wonder.

As you step out of the house again, ask yourself: I wonder what is new in the world today? What is new in me? And how can I make the best of both?