Architecting Curiosity and Creative Inquiry

Architecting Curiosity and Creative Inquiry: 

Getting Back to our Natural State of Wonder 

Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

Being around children can be a wonderful reminder of how our engagement with the world around us can dull over time. If you have spent any time with younger children, they are sources of constant amazement with what is happening around them. Everything becomes an opportunity for exploration. The interrogative “Why” can be uttered constantly, which admittedly can be mild to moderately annoying. After a while, “Because” starts to be the stand response. It can be too involved and take too long to dig into the reasons for mundane features of everyday life. That is if we even have the the ability to provide an answer. It might just be that “Because” was the only response we were ever given for asking the same questions when we were young. 

We might not be able to see the point in our lives when curiosity died. Rather, it is more likely the case that it just starts to wane and wither over time. Like any muscle that is not used, curiosity can start to atrophy.  

We might have all heard that curiosity killed the cat. But as with all stories, the reality of that statement is a bit more complicated. It turns out that the initial version of that phrase referred to how excessive worry or concern for others killed the cat. Curiosity, on the other hand, did not cause harm to the cat, and may in fact have improved its life.  

So given that curiosity can be important for our lives, where then, does it go? It seems that as we get older, or more settled, or busier and more preoccupied, curiosity feels more like an obligation than an opportunity. How might we reinvigorate that sense of curiosity in our lives and ourselves? How can we integrate curiosity to make it once again part of who we are? And how can we have curiosity with care and intentionality, being aimed at a positive end that we are directing?  

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Monica Canfield-Lenfest, Anthony Rocco, and Pim Schachtschabel are in the business of helping people find their curious mindset. They describe their company Architecting Curiosity as a community and school to practice and train your natural muscle of inquiry. That curiosity is part of our natural self is central to their work, and how they work with clients to tap back into it and exercise it. Like all muscles, curiosity can atrophy from lack of use. The good news is that Architecting Curiosity are like curiosity therapists, working with people who want to reinvigorate their inquisitive self. 

There is a sadness and loss that comes along with losing our curiosity. The vibrancy of the world around us fades and becomes more monochrome. The curiosity that guided us early in life gets left behind and perhaps even abandoned. But we can find it once again, even though we might need guides to help locate it.  

The upside of finding our curiosity is the opportunity to re-engage with that sense of childlike wonder about our surroundings. Everything becomes an opportunity to explore and learn, as well as to innovate and create. At the very least, our minds become expanded by the opportunities to investigate and understand in ways that we didn’t think possible. With that possibility comes potential, and the chance to learn from the opportunities that are all around us.  

 Listen to our chat with Monica and Pim at