Recently, a friend of mine from New York City shared the story of when her father was dying of COVID-19. The doctors on a video call told her the news a daughter never wants to hear, “He has less than a day left to live.”
He was in a lot of pain and she was conflicted with the decision to stay by his side or run out to the CVS pharmacy to pick up pain medication to ease his suffering.
Deciding to rush to the pharmacy, she arrived to find a line of socially distanced people wrapped around the outside of the store. Panicked she felt her anxiety skyrocket – should she stay or should she go? She couldn’t think. Until she remembered a skill she teaches others…”How fascinating” She paused and said, “how fascinating?!” to herself. “How fascinating that life would bring me this challenge?”
When she switched her mindset to curiosity, she immediately became aware of her options. She could go home, or she could explain her situation to the first person in line and ask if they would be willing to let her go in front of them. They did, and she was home with medicine in 15 minutes. Her father passed away 3 hours later.
By now, most of us are quite familiar with our fear-based brain and how it can narrow our thinking. It is interesting that we are often challenged with figuring out how to bypass that lovely threat response that can pop up from time to time. Curiosity can help!
- How fascinating that the customer yelled at me?!
- How fascinating that this line is super long and I am in a hurry?!
- How fascinating that that didn’t go my way?!
- How fascinating that the power went out in the middle of the zoom call I was leading?!
Practice:
Curiosity can help us switch our mindset so that we can see the choices in life.
- How can you be more curious about the situation you are facing?
- What questions can you ask yourself to think about a situation differently?
Stay curious,
The Positive Foundry Team
