Curiosity is often considered a vulgar habit - "don't ask to many questions", don't look at them", "don't stare" are ways we've been trained out of a natural instinct to learn more. If people don't indulge in curiosity, we cannot learn, we keep ourselves from knowing other people and building real relationships. Worst of all, we will not have as much fun on an everyday basis. Formal study, the reading of biographies, watching life from within a darkened theatre do not satisfy in the way I am suggesting. We need to learn how to discover people and how they think in the way of Steinbeck (Travels With Charley) and William Least Heat Moon (Blue Highways.)

I find that curiosity once stirred, rarely sleeps until the appetite for knowledge is satisfied. My seemingly boundless curiosity requires continual exploration and satisfaction. I'm sure yours does, too; let's decide not to deny ourselves that pleasure.

I'm sure you can find non-offensive ways to ask questions so that the people you meet will tell you what they think, how they perceive the world, and how a problem can be solved. You'll be amazed to find how very clever most people are - even though their solutions and conclusions may be very different from yours. And while your curiosity is being fed, the people who have a chance to explain the workings of their mind will be validated... and upon this validations the best relationships are built.

There are people in our nation who think that there is only one side to a coin.. that their way is the only way to think, to live, to behave. For those of us who say we like to travel, considered that there is not more exciting land to explore than the mind of another person.

Perhaps I could motivate you to explore the ideas of others if I offered mileage points but all I promise is that by asking quality questions (any question except "why") your every day will be a safari into unexplored territory and you can enjoy a fascinating life - wherever you are - without jet lag or packing or email build-up.

I describe curiosity as "lust of the mind. "So far (and Hooray!) curiosity is not listed among the seven deadly sins.