Want to be more curious? Take a walk on the Child Side
For most people, walking is one of the easiest (just open your front door), cheapest (free) and most beneficial things someone can do alone to inspire curiosity and reignite one’s childlike sense of wonder.
Going for a walk can inspire curiosity for several reasons:
Change of Environment
When you go for a walk, you often leave your usual surroundings and enter a different environment. This change can stimulate curiosity as you encounter new sights, sounds, and experiences. All your senses are stimulated. Even if you are walking the same way you always do, it will never be exactly the same. There will be new sounds, sights and smells.
Observation
Walking encourages you to be more observant. You may notice details in your surroundings that you wouldn't otherwise pay attention to. This heightened awareness can lead to questions and curiosity about what you see. You can also take simple steps to be even more observant, leading to you experiencing more (I will come back to this shortly).
Mind-Wandering
Walking provides an opportunity for your mind to wander and daydream. This mental state can lead to creative thinking and the generation of new ideas and questions. Periods of downtime have been found to increase productivity and improve problem-solving and unleash creativity.
3M, one of the most innovative companies in history, even introduced a policy in 1948 where they gave back 15% of their employees time so they could pursue their own projects as it led to more innovation, and many forward-thinking companies, e.g. Google, have since instigated similar ideas.
“Learning to ‘digest’ our thoughts and quiet the mind can help make room for sparks of creativity and inspired action,” says clinical psychologist and mindfulness educator Supriya Blair, PsyD
Physical Activity
Physical activity, like walking, has been linked to improved cognitive function. It can boost your mood and mental clarity, making you more receptive to new ideas and information. This openness allows you to explore a wide range of topics and viewpoints, which sound like something someone curious would do.
Stress Reduction
Walking can help reduce stress and anxiety. When you're in a more relaxed state, you're more open to curiosity and exploration. There are several ways in which stress impacts curiosity - that’s for another article - but one is that when the mind is freed from the preoccupation of immediate concerns, it allows you to shift your focus toward curiosity about other things.
Solitude and Reflection
Walking can also boost Self-reflective Curiosity. Many people find that walking alone offers a peaceful and solitary space for deep thinking and self-reflection. This can lead to questions about life, purpose, and personal growth.
The Science
There is a growing body of research on the cognitive and psychological benefits of walking and spending time in nature. While few specific studies directly address the relationship between walking and curiosity, they do suggest that walking can have positive effects on cognition, creativity, and mental well-being, which can lead to increased curiosity (as well as curiosity leading to each of those - it works both ways).
These are just a few of the studies and sources related to the benefits of walking and spending time in nature:
Stanford researchers found that walking boosts creative inspiration.
"The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature" - A review published in Psychological Science (2015) discusses how nature exposure can enhance cognitive function and creativity.
A team of UK based psychology professors found that mindful nature walking intervention was very effective at improving sleep quality and mood, and if there is better sleep and mood then there is more opportunity to be curious.
"Effect of Forest Bathing on Physiological and Psychological Responses in Young Japanese Male Subjects" - This study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2016), explores the physiological and psychological benefits of forest bathing, a form of nature-based walking in forests.
“Nature walks: The pedagogical tool to enhance curiosity, learning and emotional well-being in children” -Maddirala Sai Praveen
"Walking Facilitates Creative Thinking" - A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (2014) suggests that walking can enhance creative thinking.
Want even more benefits from your walk? Follow THE Activity below…
Wonder Walks: How to Turbo Boost you walk and outcomes
If you are able to intentionally walk with a focus on seeing the world with wonder, you walk is likely to be more beneficial to your curious mindset development and your mental well-being. Embrace that childlike sense of wonder!
Activity: Turbo Charge your Walk
Really try to connect with your surroundings, appreciate their beauty/size/age/history/detail/imperfections. Be curious and observe the everyday beauty around you: there will always be something you can find to feed your wonder, even if it means zoning in on something tiny.
There is a lot of talk about Awe Walks and their benefits, which has meant there has been explicit scientific research done on them. They are unadoubtedly a good thing, and going out with awe in mind can make your walk even more benefitial.
Awe and wonder are very similar and in these you are in essence predominantly doing the same thing as you are on a Wonder Walk: intentionally shifting your attention outwards rather than inwards. With a sense of wonder you are going to experience awe at all the moments an awe walker would e.g. when faced with the vastness of the skies, a stunning sunset or the sea crashing in a storm, so you will experience all the same benefits recorded for awe works. In fact, many writers seem to use awe interchangeably with curiosity when there are some differences. Awe implies respect rather than joy.
I choose to focus on wonderment instead because I believe there are going to be some moments where someone isn’t able to feel awe, so are therefore not benefiting at the time, but they could still feel wonder and reap benefits from that. Awe seems to focus more on the bigger things, when the tiniest insect or flower could spark a feeling of wonder, while you are unlikely to feel a sense of awe. When you are walking in an overcrowded smoggy innercity street finding awe will be tricky. But you can still find things that spark joy if you are approaching it with wonder. You are more likely to notice a cat on a doorstep, spot the woman feeding pigeons with several perched on her, a date etched on a building that inspires your curiosity so you want to find out the history, and you can find things to wonder at even in the different people rushing past.
As a sense of wonder will mean you are also open to feelings of awe the benefits found through awe walks would also apply for wonder ones, they just haven’t had the specific research.
Benefits include:
boost in emotional well-being
In Sept 2020, a new study by Dr Virginia Sturm, associate professor of neurology and behavioural sciences at the University of California, San Francisco investigated the positive emotion of awe in 60 older adults who took 15 minute “awe walks” for eight weeks. Compared to the control group, the awe walkers experienced both more joy during their walks, as well as heightened prosocial positive emotions (i.e. compassion, admiration, gratitude) and decreased stress in their daily lives in general
enthused optimism, improved connectivity, reduced stress and stimulated curiosity
Dacher Keltner’s work on awe highlights numerous benefits. It can reduce stress, help inflammation, increase creativity and sociability, contribute to feelings of generosity, humility, make you happy and enhance well-being.
So, going on Awe Walks would also increase the benefit of the walk for cultivating curiosity, but I believe a Wonder Walk is the ultimate turbo charge. It is most likely also easier to take that sense of wonder into everyday life, when perhaps there are some situations where awe could feel almost impossible.
