Cultivating Curiosity in the Age of Tweets and Twitter

Huell Howser, host of "California Gold" is the only person I know that can get pretty excited about broken glass.

Let me explain. Huell travels up and down the state and discovers some of California's unique and eccentric places like lighthouses, Emu farmers and artisans who make things out of broken glass. 

One episode, Huell visited a man who creates "deco art" using recycled glass. I was listening to the conversation with amazement and I got the sense that Huell sincerely cares about this guy and his broken glass. 

Curiosity is hard to develop, especially if the topic is of no interest. I mean how excited can one get about wall paper design? But being curious requires me to really listen and enter another persons world with empathy.

Curiosity softens my "self certainty" about life and increases my ability to see life with a sense of "wonder." So I became "curious" watching Huell work his magic in getting people to open up about what I thought was mundane topics.

I went on to "youtube" and I watched closely how the great interviewers like Huell Howser, Jack Paar, Brian Lamb and Roy Firestone brought a person to life.

I listened to how each of these conversationalist weaved curiosity into the interview. Soon I began to notice something interesting.  Over the course of the conversation, the interviewer took a back seat and I was focused on the other person and their story-I almost forgot the interviewer was in the room.

The interviewers had to be ok with backing down and allowing the other person to come alive. The ego sure can get in the way of being curious, especially in this current age of "self obsession.

Conversation is becoming a lost art in the land of tweets and twitter. It's time bring curiosity back, dust it off and learn "conversation" all over again.

God Is...

"God is"
This is the genesis of the believers faith.
God is the initiator of making himself known-God revealed himself to me-I cannot reveal myself to Him.
No human endeavor-no belief-no philosophy-no theology-no political party can claim God-"God is. "

Theology is thinking God's thoughts AFTER Him not the other way. 
God is separate from all works of man-God is not in the Tower of Babel, the Golden Calf or any shrine or temple-"God Is."
God cannot be scientifically studied, analyzed, rationalized, categorized or put in any box. 

He is a covenant God and we, a covenant people-God with us-"Emmanuel"
God reveals His covenant with us in the creation-in covenant with Israel-in the incarnation-in the cross and subsequent resurrection-and He will reveal Himself at the consummation. 


God is the incarnate God-God took on human form and walked among us-in Christ Jesus-"God is."
And we who are found "in Christ Jesus" are in right standing with God-we answered YES to His covenant

"God is"-this is where I walk in faith and along the way God reveals Himself to me.
"God Is."

First Understand-Then be Understood

The 5th habit of Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" says "Seek first to understand then be understood." Our conversations would be more meaningful if we nurtured this habit.

Consider this common situation: Two people communicating and both want to be understood at the same time-so no one is understood. I walk away from this type of exchange unsatisfied and not really learning anything about you. Covey calls this interaction "dialogue of the deaf."

The way we communicate today, I can tell you, we are not suffering from a deficiency in "getting our point across." We prefer monologues to dialogues. Watch any of the reality shows and you'll see people obsessed with getting there point across.

But under this obsession of "attention seeking" and "self grandiosity" is a silent cry of people truly wanting to be understood. Underneath the narcissistic noise I hear the cry "please understand me." 

My natural inclination is to be understood first-then, if I have time, to understand you. So I've set out to reverse this "dialogue of the deaf" in my own interactions.

The first thing I needed to do was develop my listening skills-I mean to "actively listen" or as Carl Rogers would say  "to listen unconditionally with empathy." This is a type of "deep listening" which requires discipline.

It's not just the words I'm listening to, but the meaning behind the words. When I listen with empathy, I am trying to understand life as you see it-to walk in your shoes. And as I begin to listen this way, I start out by understanding your point of view-your experience.

To "understand first" opens up the conversation to a deeper and meaningful conversation. At first this approach feels unnatural but as you practice "empathic listening" you're conversations becomes deeper and more meaningful.

We all desire to be understood so give someone the gift of "understanding" in your next conversation.