Introduction to Humour, Playfulness, & Curiosity
I) Welcome to Module 2
Curiosity.
Beginners mind.
THINGS AVAILABLE TO US AT ALL TIMES, “…particularly when we feel present and settled in our bodies.”
Curiosity…
allows for responsiveness rather than reactive;
creates space to observe our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours non-judgmentally;
allows us to consider what’s going on inside and around us;
illuminates possibilities;
provides us with choices; and
increases our sense of connection, playfulness, and vitality.
What does it look and feel like when one notices curiosity?
Do you get a rush of excitement when you learn something new?
Do you find yourself asking questions?\
II) Self Check-In
I’m rating myself as being between a 5-6, moderately present and / or settled in my body. I’m tired today, and feeling a bit weak, probably because of too much sugar yesterday.
In terms of feeling calm or stressed, I’m rating myself as a 3, somewhat stressed, anxious, and / or activated, but also feel a sense of calm. I’m a bit rattled, overwhelmed. I had wanted to do more today, such as cut the grass at my Mom’s place, but I ended up napping.
Curious Connection
III) Curious Connections
Ask…
What can happen when we follow our curiosity?
How can curiosity open us to new ideas, perspectives, and actions?
What connections and collaborations might occur that stem from being curious?
ARTIFACT 01 > AGO. “Mindfulness Series: The Human Connection & Curiosity.” YouTube,
IV) Giorgio Lupi & Stefanie Posavec, ‘Dear Data’
Giorgio Lupi & Stefanie Posavec are Italian (living in NYC) and American (living in London) artists who collaborated on a year long project to get to know each other through the compilation and sharing of hand-drawn data postcards.
The project could be laborious and demanding, as well as frustrating. But it made the artists pay attention and live in the present moment with a deeper awareness of their surroundings and their own behaviour.
V) Giorgio Lupi on Humanizing Data
For Lupi, good data collection is rooted in having and cultivating curiosity. Being curious leads to having a sense of openness that impacts all of one’s senses, and a feeling of FLOW. Lupi notes how for her, “Data is nothing more than an abstraction of our reality. A lens, a tool that we can use to filter our reality one subject at a time.”
ARTIFACT 02 > MoMA. “How Giorgio Lupi visualizes life through data.” YouTube, 04 Dec 2024.
ARTIFACT 03 > TED. “What Long COVID Taught Me About Life (and Data) | Georgia Lupi | TED.” YouTube, 17 Oct 2024.
VI) Games and Humour
Humour - what comes to mind when you think about it? The Oxford Language Dictionary defines it as a mood or state of mind, “…the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech.”
The course notes how: “There are many kinds of humor. Benign, gentle, or benevolent humor can help reduce anxiety, boost mood and optimism, release tension, and create a sense of connectedness. Dark humor can help people cope with challenging situations and complex emotions. Finding humor in a dark situation, telling a self-deprecating joke, or making light of a heavy topic are normal as long as no one is being harmed. Humor often offers levity and helps us relate to a situation or feeling in a different way. If we are in emotional distress or physical pain, humor can momentarily shift our attention away from what is causing our suffering, giving us a much-needed break.”
VII) How to See an Exquisite Corpse
VIII) Guadalupe Maravilla, Tripa Chuca
IX) Optional Creative Prompts
Fun with Language
X) Fun with Language
XI) Artist Inspiration: Mikel Shiomi’s Instructions
XII) Artist Inspiration: Ed Ruscha’s Wordplay
XIII) Cecilia Vicuña, Amazon’s Palabrarmas
XIV) Optional Creative Prompts
Playing with Everyday Materials
XV) Playing with Everyday Materials
XVI) Artist Inspiration: Making the Everyday Unfamiliar
XVII) Optional Creative Prompts
Review and Reflect
XVIII) Reflection on Week 2
XIX) Optional Readings and Resources
Below are optional readings and resources that provide enhanced context for the concepts and artworks featured in the course. You can complete the course without reviewing them.
Course videos on YouTube
Curiosity
Jennifer Gerlach, The Curious Mind: A Key to Mental Wellness, Psychology Today, published September 14, 2023. This article highlights the benefits of having a curious mind and the ways you can cultivate a sense of curiosity.
Celeste Kidd and Benjamin Y. Hayden, The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity, National Library of Medicine: National Center for Biotechnology Information, published November 4, 2015. A science oriented article that explores brain development and evolution related to curiosity. This journal article also discusses early childhood development, play and learning with a focus on curiosity.
Todd Kashdan, 5 Benefits of Curiosity, Experience Life by Life Time, published September 1, 2019. According to this article, there are 5 ways curiosity enhances our sense of well-being: health, intelligence, social relationships, happiness, and meaning. This article also gives some helpful ways to intentionally bring more curiosity into your life, such as finding the unfamiliar in the familiar.
David Robson, Curiosity: The neglected trait that drives success, BBC, published September 6, 2022. This article explores how curiosity about a subject can boost success. Neurological changes take place when we are curious and information we take in is often more deeply encoded. Robson also shares how curiosity can also provide a memory boost.
Scott Shigeoka, How Curiosity Can Help Us Overcome Disconnection, Greater Good Magazine, published September 27, 2023. Shigeoka discusses the way curiosity can help overcome disconnection. Curiosity opens up people to hearing from different perspectives, stories, ideas, and seeing the humanity in others, all of which builds connection. This article also gives some useful tips for letting go of biases and assumptions in order to let in curiosity.
Humor
Eric Dolan, New study identifies which types of humor are linked to reduced worry and increased well-being, PsyPost, published November 24, 2021. This article breaks down some of the key findings in a study about humor, concluding that people who engage with fun and benevolent humor have higher levels of psychological well-being.
Angela Haupt, Humor Has Health Benefits. How to Add More to Your Life, TIME, published May 8, 2023. An article that offers a few suggestions about how to cultivate more humor in your life.
Ilona Papousek, Humor and well-being: A little less is quite enough, International Journal of Humor Research, published February 2018. A scholarly article that examines the types of humor that are most impactful to well-being. The article sheds light on the physical and emotional responses to some types of humor, asserting that humor is not a miracle cure all but a great tool to have in your toolbox.
Jared C. Pistoia, Can You Use Humor as a Coping Mechanism?, Psych Central, published June 22, 2024. This article refers to several reviews that examine the ways humor can be used. The article compares positive and negative forms of humor and notes the importance of remembering cultural differences in how humor is received.
Brandon M. Savage, Heidi L. Lujan, Raghavendar R. Thipparthi, and Stephen E. DiCarlo, Humor, laughter, learning, and health: A brief review, Advances in Physiology Education, July 5, 2017. A very thorough article that explores humor in medicine, humor and learning, and social bonds that can form through humor, as well as the psychophysiological benefit of humor.
The Show of Delights, This American Life, aired January 31, 2020. Reporter Bim Adewunmi hosts an episode made up entirely of stories about delight, from pure joy to bittersweet moments.
Play and Playfulness
Gwen Gordon, Well Played: The Origins and Future of Playfulness, American Journal of Play, 2014. This article explores research on play and well-being across several disciplines including positive psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience.
Alison Tonkin and Julia Whitaker, Play and playfulness for health and wellbeing: A panacea for mitigating the impact of coronavirus, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, published March 19, 2021. This article explores how play and playfulness in support of well-being as well as questions about why humans play, what play can do, and the value of play.
Kirsty Rigg, Discover the wellbeing benefits of adult play, Happiful, published November 5, 2022. A short article emphasizing the adult need to engage in play for well-being.]
XX) Week 02 Practice Quiz
What’s one way that curiosity has supported your well-being?
In January 2023, I had a stroke..
How it happened
Crying
Becoming curious - working on COURSERA, creative in isolation
XXI) Optional Prompts for Discussion and Reflection
What is your biggest takeaway from this module?
What resonated the most with you? What surprised you and/or got you thinking?
What have you found gets in the way of experiencing humor, playfulness, and curiosity in your life? Are there things you can do to add more humor, playfulness, and curiosity to your life?
When you think about humor, playfulness, and curiosity, after completing this module, how do you see them impacting your well-being, either separately or together?
What’s something from this module you are still thinking about or interested in exploring more deeply?
Did you try one of the creative prompts for the playful connections section? Did one of the artists in this module spark something new for you?
Did you try one of the creative prompts for the fun with language section? Did one of the artists in this module spark something new for you?
Did you try one of the creative prompts for the taking inspiration section? Did one of the artists in this module spark something new for you?