By Kathleen E. Murphy
Last week a friend of mine told me about a young man who passed away on March 28, 2017. He had been battling addiction for many years. When I attended his wake yesterday, his entire family told me they were happy he was finally at peace. Anyone who has ever suffered from an illness, or been witness to someone else who has, understands the concept of “peace” better than most. Thinking more about this concept lead me to explore the topic of “curiosity”, as I wanted to better understand the true meaning of peace. There are a number of interpretations of the word peace. As a noun, the definition states it means “freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility”. I believe this is the meaning this young man’s family embraced to express how their feeling about an extraordinary sad occasion in their life. I also imagine this word and concept helped them to come to terms with the situation based on this meaning.
On a lighter note, thank goodness for the internet and the ease of being able to research information, especially since I have always been curious about many topics. Pre-internet, the challenge to do research took far more effort, and the results of my research did not always satisfy my quest to go layers deep into exploring a topic. Given the fact I am by nature a curious person, I have often wondered if most people are as well? To set the stage on the meaning of Curiosity, according to Wikipedia’s definition “Curiosity is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans and other animals.”
Others would likely agree there are varying degrees of curiosity, and times in our lives when we have the opportunity to be more curious. The American proverb “curiosity killed the cat” is a negative connotation of curiosity, and since my last blog article was on “Positivity”, you know where I stand in terms of whether I support this proverb. Of course, upon researching if there was a follow-up to this statement, I found out via Wikipedia that “A less frequently-seen rejoiner to ‘Curiosity killed the cat’, is “but satisfaction brought it back”. This must be why I pursue my curiosity quest on a daily basis, as finding out more information about a topic is highly satisfying.
Regardless of who you are, being a curious person has amazing advantages, particularly from a learning perspective, and I love to learn new things all the time. The challenge of researching topics I am curious about is always a fascinating process, and I am thoroughly amazed each time about what I learn. Is it possible to be too curious? I do not think it is, and my belief is when I stop being curious, my life will not be as rich in the diversity from what I learn as a result of being curious. There are numerous other advantages to being curious, as is it does not matter what gender you are, your age, your educational background, where you live, or what access you have to information.
As a business person, doing research is an integral and on-going process, as it is critical to learn as much about the industry I am in, the target markets I am pursuing, the competition and global or local events which might have an impact on my business, or the products and services I am marketing. Thankfully doing research, fueled by my curiosity makes it a pleasurable aspect to my daily activities. However, I cannot imagine if I did not have the drive to be curious every day. Are you curious enough, or does it matter whether or not you are?
This blog is in memory of Torin Michael Lekan of Chelmsford, Massachusetts who passed away at the age of 32. To honor his memory, his family asked people to please help a friend in need.
Kathleen E. Murphy is the Founder, Chief Strategist and CMO of Market Me Too. Market Me Too has expertise in bridging marketing and sales teams and providing organizations techniques to accelerate their market growth, regardless of the industry they are in, or the business stage they are presently at. Contact Kathleen at kathymurphy@me.com.