Each week in The Wisdom of Change blog series, I share the original artwork and unpack the insights and meaning behind one of the 44 cards in The Wisdom of Change oracle deck.

This week’s card is 12 Curiosity

Nothing shifted for me until I got curious. 

Nothing gained momentum until I began to engage with my situation more deeply than a surface level whinge. I couldn’t shift my dissatisfaction with my lot until I started asking better quality questions about why I found myself stuck.  I couldn’t call in my teachers until I had the courage to admit that I had more to learn.  I couldn’t find ways forward until I accepted that what had worked for me in the past was no longer working.  For a successful, competent, hard working woman who had never ‘failed’ at anything before, this was a lot to wrap my head around and process.

Change happens when we get deeply curious about why things are not the way we would like them to be.

Change happens when we finally raise our heads above our frustration, take a breath and take a look around ourselves for clues.  When I found myself asking why other women had what I wanted and yet in many ways, didn’t seem to be so very different from me, I was onto something.  I had opened the doors of receptivity.  I was taking my first tentative step outside of my own self-pity to seek out new information.  Growth and expansion from this vantage point is always inevitable.

The state of curiosity is the catalyst for change.

Curiosity has a childlike quality about it.  It has a playful charm, a lack of ego and a sense of magic that no other emotion delivers.  It softens the blow to the ego when it feels temporarily resourceless.  It makes it easier to feel humble and gives us permission to admit our vulnerability and uncertainty.  It makes the process of coming undone and falling apart infinitely more powerful because it promises empowering rewards on the other side (that are always delivered on).

Curiosity has the power to dissolves the calcified states of ‘I already know this’, ‘I’ve tried everything’ and ‘that’s not for me’.  It breaks down barriers of cynicism and disbelief. It enables us to try things that we wouldn’t have ordinarily.  It enables us to ask new questions, explore new approaches, connect with new people and open our mind to new possibilities. 

Curiosity is fertile ground.

It heralds a state of surrender by welcoming new insights.  It allows the universe to scatter seeds that find receptive soil in which to take root.  As these germs of ideas and shoots of new information begin to grow, we get to decide which seedlings to nurture and incubate.  Before long we are meandering through a garden of colourful options and sweet-smelling landscapes; all because we allowed ourselves the gift of curiosity.

As Britain faces into a second period of lockdown, my curiosity deepens.  It enables my faith in the human experience to blossom and my compassion for humanity to bed in.  It asks me to trust in this sense of shared uncertainty and allow it to feel nurturing and full of promise.  It encourages me to go deeper within for creative insights and to harness self-love whilst I seek to be of service to others.

What are you allowing your curiosity to seed for you at this time?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s connection to your inner wisdom.

As always, I’d love to hear your comments below.

If you’d like to learn more about The Wisdom of Change oracle deck you can find out more here.

If you'd like to find out more about a Wisdom of Change reading with Wendy please click here.