Befriending our Curiosity
August 8, 2025 · 7 min read
Exploring the sacred, creative, and healing journey inward
When I turn my attention toward curiosity, I feel the sound of the word uncoil from my heart and rise to my throat. There’s an invitation to speak it aloud. So I try:
“Cyoo-ree-awe-sity.”
I say it again—and begin to wonder what this opens up.
As the energy of this word blossoms in the space around me, I notice an unfolding that I’m witnessing for the first time. There’s a sense of awe contained within it—holding how precious and wonder-full the journey of curiosity can be. It’s as if the word itself leaves us clues in life’s great scavenger hunt.
Curiosity has returned to me many times throughout my healing journey, asking for cultivation. And like many of us, I forget how to stay in receptive, open-hearted contact with the world—both around and within me. While I’ve always held deeply curious questions, they often hid beneath self-doubt. I would wonder whether it’s okay to ask things out loud. But I’m remembering now: curiosity is not only allowed, it’s essential. It’s necessary for exploring the truth of our lives.
The Seeds of Curiosity
When I imagine returning to my childhood in India, I recall the chaotic intensity that shaped me. The average classroom held 45 students. Education moved quickly, with immense pressure around performance and conduct in academics and extracurriculars. These early experiences still influence how I respond to the world. As an adult, I notice how I often shut down to the slow, spacious wisdom that arises from within.
And yet, I feel immense gratitude for the ways my family encouraged me to pursue art, dance, and creative expression. These practices grew into anchors—fostering my curiosity and helping me explore learning in a way that felt alive. Over time, creative expression became a gentle path toward spiritual connection, a space of solace and empowerment. These moments helped me feel in touch with my true self—the part of me that has always been here.
These lived experiences now shape how I hold space in my therapy practice. We are all living on the spectrum of a very personal path of self discovery. On this blog, HeartBlossom, I’ll be sharing from the spaciousness of my own heart and journey—and hope it helps you connect with yours.
A Lotus for Self-Discovery: Petals, Pollen, and the Path Inward
The Bed of Pollen: Core Self and Inner Child
Curiosity has become a friend on my path toward deeper connection with my core self. I imagine this Self like a bed of pollen nestled within a lotus blossom—where curiosity acts as a fibre that links the petals back to the center.
This core space of being exists beyond words, belief systems, or performative identity. It’s deeply connected to my inner child, to my embodied truth, to something sacred and whole. We all carry this life force inside us. And we all have the joyful responsibility of remembering and expressing ourselves from that place.
The Petals of Personality
Each petal of the lotus represents the aspects of our personality—our needs, wounds, attachments, adaptations, shame, behaviors, and patterns. These parts shape how we move through the world, how we protect or present ourselves, and how we interact with others. In turn, others impact us, creating ripple effects that shape our petals further, in how they fold in or unfurl.
This blossoming is never finished. As I explore, expand, unlearn, and shed old layers, I make space for new growth. Curiosity softens the “shoulds,” the “ought-to-knows,” and the rigidity of conditioning. It lets me greet my petals—old and new—with openness and humility.
The Stem: Ancestral Roots, Systems, and Socialization
Beneath the petals lies the stem—partly hidden, submerged in the muck. It connects to the roots and rhizomes, where ancestral memories and socio-cultural conditioning live. These are the hidden teachings passed through generations: the programs that shaped our sense of belonging or exclusion, our inherited biases, burdens, and survival strategies.
The stem reminds me that the nervous system, intuition, and spine all hold memory. They either support our unfolding or reveal where we’ve collapsed. Through this root system, we connect not only to our own liberation, but to the collective. Water—the living element that supports the lotus—joins us all, holding everything with tenderness, supporting the lotus and its pads to float atop while the trauma rises for resolution.
The Fragrance: Wise Self and Witness
And then, there’s the fragrance. That part of us that observes, holds, and senses—the witness consciousness or wise self. This is the soft power that sees everything without judgment and connects us to others through empathy. It binds us to something greater: the sky above, the mystery, the divine.
Sometimes, this same fragrance emerges through adversity. Like a flower crushed underfoot, still offering its scent, we find that wisdom can be born of our wounds. The people who’ve walked before us—elders, teachers, ancestors, and even dear friends—remind us that healing is relational. We are not alone on this path.
Weathering the Storm: Meeting Resistance with Presence
Curiosity often invites resistance. Like the vast sky holding both clear skies and storms, our inner worlds make room for friction. Resistance can feel like a protest, a tightening. But it’s often a sign we’re moving toward something important.
Whether you're new to therapy or steeped in healing work, resistance is part of the process. It shows up when we’re about to touch something meaningful. Instead of seeing it as an obstacle, we can welcome it as a friend.
Before you try to “figure it all out,” my invitation is this: try being present with what is. No agenda. No perfecting. Just meet the feeling. Sometimes, when we relax our grip, something shifts intuitively. This isn’t about logic. It’s about felt experience—and in a therapeutic space, this kind of embodied awareness can be profoundly healing.
With my clients, especially those in early stages of therapy, I often invite present-moment awareness. Through breath, sensation, and gentle inquiry, curiosity can open surprising doors.
Whether you're tending to your bed of pollen, exploring your petals, or sitting with the muddy roots—my hope is that you come into loving contact with the fragrance of your own inner wisdom.
Curiosity in Practice: Self-Reflection Prompts
Here are a few prompts to help you explore curiosity in your own way. Feel free to adapt or expand on them:
1. Create Your Space
Choose a quiet, comfortable spot. Bring along your journal, a sketchbook, a candle, or any object that feels grounding or inspiring.
2. Name What’s Present
Think of a part of your current experience—maybe a thought, relationship, or emotion—that feels stuck, tense, angry, or justified.
3. Breathe and Notice
Take a few deep breaths. Gently scan your environment. Notice the colors, sounds, textures, and smells.
4. Shift Perspective
What if this moment is an invitation—not to fix or judge, but to soften into a new understanding? What would curiosity want to know about this part of you?
5. Journal Prompts
What am I feeling in my body right now?
Is there sadness, grief, or longing?
What would help me feel a little more okay in this moment?
What’s one small act of care I can offer myself today?
Final Thoughts
If any part of this post resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re a fellow seeker, a client, or simply someone walking your own path of becoming—may curiosity guide you gently inward.
May awe find you today,
Daya