While I eagerly await the next season of the TV series Ted Lasso, I find myself dialing back to re-watch and recapture snippets of the magic that this show has created in its 2 seasons. Ted Lasso aired during a time in our lives where many of us felt anchor-less and perhaps found it hard to find a bright side to life. Enter this unconventional, charming hero who only ever drinks water from a glass that is half full.
(Before I go any further, if you have not seen Ted Lasso, I am going to need you to reschedule your plans for the week and get watching. It is really THAT GOOD!)
I have always wondered at people like Ted Lasso…people who cannot help but deal in the currencies of authenticity and goodness. This lens through which they see life as a landscape of possibility is what makes these souls so wise and wonderful. Their perspective and curiosity are the foundations upon which I seat my inspiration.
A scene exemplifying Ted’s gift for imparting profound truth through quiet sincerity reveals itself during a pivotal dart game in Season 1 (which can be watched by clicking the link below).
Ted shares a quote attributed to one of the foremost writers in our history:
“Be curious, not judgmental.”
While there is debate about this statement truly being written by the poet and humanist Walt Whitman, of what is there is no doubt is the impact of these 4 words. They are simple. They are precise.
And if you allow them to do so, they will shift the lens through which you see EVERYTHING.
Watch the Darts Scene from Ted Lasso- https://www.youtube.
Curiosity and Judgment exist in my mind as a fork in the road…choices we make on our Life Journey. We will choose one way OR the other, which will very likely shape our interactions with people, our assessments of something we have read or heard, and most assuredly the processes we employ as we consider our own next steps in life.
When we allow ourselves to be curious about something, we make room to explore it. Curiosity, by its very nature, breeds openness. It can be an invitation to see something or someone not only from the inside-out but as an experience that is completely new and unknown. With this perspective, we are able to leave our preconceived notions outside the door and walk into the room open and present.
Doesn’t that sound good? …even liberating?
I have begun to adopt a lens of curiosity in my own life and am being shown through this growth process how exhausting judgment can be. When I spend the majority of my time being judgmental, I am narrowing my focus as I work to nail down an identity and label for everything that steps in front of me. I see now how they hamper the privilege I have of using my in-the-moment senses and feelings. (I call them my curiosity muscles).
When I flex these “curiosity muscles” in real time, I can absorb and flow with WHAT IS. I get to be wholly myself in the experience, as I release the identities and labels, limitations and expectations I have placed on who I am in this current moment of my life. I offer that same gift to whoever and whatever is also within the scope of my experience. Whether this is a walk in the same patch of woods I traverse daily or a conversation with a stranger who waits behind me in line at the supermarket, I have the opportunity to truly let this moment be new and to let every moment to come exist inside a judgement-free zone of possibility and just a little bit of wonder.
If each of us were to experiment with this concept, we would remind ourselves to relax away from old opinions that have told us who we are and how what we are doing defines us. These previously formed opinions say nothing about who we are now. We are constantly growing and expanding, and we are new in every moment. By staying present, we witness our feelings and observations and allow the choices we make to reveal their purpose over time. When we are collaborating with life, the compulsion to judge how things should turn out begins to soften and eventually to fade. Our “work” is in developing an appreciation for the journey, not the finish line, as the rich reward of our lifetimes. And who knows where that next “curiosity fork” in the road will take us and who we will meet along the way…
What if TODAY you used this newfound lens of wondrous Curiosity to celebrate all the wonderful, unique, and yet-to-be explored places and spaces inside beautiful, wonderful you?!
Meditation Invite
Every Saturday, a group of outstanding beings from The Connection Community come together to restore and renew their beautiful energy bodies. I am privileged to guide this hour of awesomeness and want to make sure you know that there is an invite with your name on it anytime you want to join us and do a little chakra dusting. We kick off at 11am EDT. Please reach out to the Connection if interested (or visit the zoom schedule on our website.)
by: Victoria Squazzo RMT, HPA, CECP, RYT-200
Reiki Master/Teacher and Practitioner for People and Pets
Reiki Certification Teacher
Holistic Practitioner of Ayurveda
Emotion Code Practitioner
Barre/Mat Pilates/Yoga Instructor
www.alignwithvictoria.com