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Challenging our critical inner voice is integral to cultivating an inquisitive attitude toward ourselves.

Self-compassion is a necessary component to maintaining a genuinely interested posture toward ourselves.

Being curious about emotions can help us reassess, identify, and transform habitual ways of seeing ourselves.

Radical curiosity is a superpower. Over the years, many people in various fields have described the benefits of this approach. In 2017, Bill Nye (the Science Guy) presented it as a way of empowering people to stop climate change and foster a better future. He recommended nurturing curiosity throughout one’s entire life to identify and tackle problems effectively.

In 2022, designer and entrepreneur Seth Goldenberg argued that only by fostering and rediscovering curiosity “can we hope to remake our organizations, our politics, and our lives.” This year, in their book How to Feel Loved: The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most, psychologists Sonja Lyubomirsky and Harry Reis have identified radical curiosity as one of those five valuable mindsets.

Radical curiosity allows for kinder, more open, and more interesting exchanges between us and other people. For example, it can help span a divide with even the most reticent teen: “This school sucks!” ... “How do you mean?” Those four words, repeated in varying forms throughout this kind of conversation, can give us a wide window into a teen’s emotional world.

Radical curiosity can also bring an ease to otherwise difficult conversations with our partners: “Your........

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