Experience Curiosity from a Quiet Mind

What is the difference between experiencing curiosity from a quiet mind versus from a busy mind?

In a recent conversation with Deep Living Lab Facilitator Samuel Schindler, we reflected on the Vital Quality of curiosity and its role in our Enneagram self-discovery. We invite you to read an excerpt from that conversation below, then listen to Samuel’s practice so you may experience the quality of curiosity from a grounded belly, open heart, and quiet mind.

Jean Blomo, Program Manager for Deep Living Lab: What do you see as the difference between the experience of curiosity from a quiet mind versus from a busy mind?

Samuel Schindler: Well, I think curiosity in the busy mind can block us. We’re trying to think, “What’s happening here? I’m trying to figure it out…I’m not getting the answer!” But I’m not getting the answer because my busy mind has dissociated me from my other Centers of Intelligence.

So, when I’m doing an inquiry, I’m not asking from the mind. I’m paying attention to what’s happening in my body. For example, as an Enneagram Type Six who experiences a lot of anxiety, I ask, “Where am I tightened up? Where am I feeling tense?”
And then I ask, “What’s happening in my heart? Can I allow myself to feel my suffering?” And when we allow that, then there’s a shift there. So, we’re coming into the portal to presence.

I ask, “Can I just be with what’s here?”

We’re often coming from our egoic structure. We’re always engaged in efforting, trying to achieve the basic desire of our type, and we’re trying to avoid what we don’t want. We’re caught up in the story and the identification we have by type.

We are human beings. As we’re in contact with beingness, the sensation and the feeling in the immediacy of the moment is what’s true now. We could say that there’s direct knowing.

Jean: And is curiosity one pathway to that inner knowing?

Samuel: Yeah, absolutely. It’s like, “What’s true now?” And you’re noticing what’s true in terms of, “What am I sensing or what am I feeling?”

Curiosity Practice