“I want to see you listening! Can you embody listening?” ~ John L. Jackson, Jr.

Happy New Year!

Resolutions are where most people go in the new year, new habits or ways we promise ourselves we’ll take on to transform our lives.

What if, instead, we revisited some of what has worked well for us already, and try to do more of that?

I put out a question to listeners; going into the new year, which episodes have stuck with you? What insights, inspiration or wisdom have you carried forward from those conversations? 

To my surprise – and delight – everyone had a different show that resonated. The variety was startling, not necessarily the shows I would have thought, at all. And going back years.

People didn’t always tell me why an episode had stayed with them, simply that it had.

So I’ve pulled segments from four of those conversations. 

These are moments that captured my heart and imagination.

These are moments and wisdom I want to carry into the new year…. 

A life without curiosity is going to be a life of only the familiar. And in the familiar there’s just not that impetus, the stimulant, that says, ‘I gotta! I gotta! I gotta!’…It keeps life interesting, it helps add meaning, and it’s a marvelous part of who we are.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #260: New Year, Timeless Wisdom

You can hear the full conversations with my lovely guests here:

This Is Your Brain on Curiosity, with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (Original release date June 2, 2016)

Ethnography & Cultures of Curiosity, with John L. Jackson, Jr (Original release date July 24, 2019)

Compassionate Curiosity & Death, with Valoria Walker (Original release date May 12, 2021)

Cultivating a Curious Palate, with Jack Zhang (Original release date October 19, 2023)

What lessons and hard-won wisdom are you carrying into the new year? Let me know below!

Many thanks to my listeners and the guests who have inspired them. Thanks too, to Sean Balick for our theme and other music.

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.