Lynn Borton
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choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Lynn Borton
@choosetobecurious.bsky.social
110 followers 160 following 300 posts
Producer & Host of Choose to Be Curious radio show/podcast - we talk about research and theory, but mostly it’s conversations about how curiosity shows up in work and life. choosetobecurious.com
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choosetobecurious.bsky.social
“When a scientist conducts an experiment & they don’t get the results they expected, they don’t go, ‘Oh, shame! I’m such a failure!’ They go, ‘Huh…interesting! What is going on here?’
...How can we apply this experimental mindset to our daily lives and work?” ~ @neuranne.bsky.social

link below!
December 6, 2025 at 3:16 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Call it #wintering, a deliberate pause, a slowing down. Restoration.

The show and I are taking a break from production in December -- a little R&R = rest, and re-airs with @neuranne.bsky.social @notrobwalker.bsky.social Maggie Jackson & @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social.

lynnborton.com/2025/12/04/m...
Might Curiosity Hibernate?
I’m taking a little break in December. Call it some curiosity R&R — curiosity respite & re-airs. I’ll get a production break, and my radio audiences will continue to enjoy uninterrupted listening, tha...
lynnborton.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:27 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Let's lower the threshold for 'oooh, that's weird! That's curious. What's up with THAT?'" and other good advice about choosing to be curious from @johnmuirlaws.com and @wildwonder.bsky.social

Link below to listen
Birds fly in a wild flock in a green sky over a city skyline
November 30, 2025 at 4:17 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
It's a FUN(d) raiser! Maybe you'd like to join me in learning to draw pine cones from @johnmuirlaws.com and @wildwonder.bsky.social

What's not to love about magical seed-delivery systems that follow wonderful mathematical rules?!

www.wildwonder.org/store/p/cone...
Holiday Sketch Party: Learn to Draw Pine Cones and Branches with John Muir Laws: 12/1/2025 — Wild Wonder Foundation
Get into the holiday spirit and put in some "pencil miles" at this fun class with John Muir Laws on drawing and painting pinecones, branches, and needles. PLUS: Class will include live musical interlu...
www.wildwonder.org
November 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Beauty is where you choose to find it," @johnmuirlaws.com @wildwonder.bsky.social reminds me at the end of our absolutely delightful conversation about curiosity and nature journaling.

Link below...
Dried, open seed pods with what appear to be dead stems and leaves
November 29, 2025 at 1:41 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"I notice...
I wonder...
It reminds me..."

@johnmuirlaws.com of @wildwonder.bsky.social offers an easy way to pay attention to the wild wonderful world around us.

Link to listen below
A tidal marsh with blue sky and clouds reflected in the water
November 28, 2025 at 3:17 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
On this day for gratitude, slow down to the speed of wonder.

Join me and @johnmuirlaws.com in some intentional curiosity: lynnborton.com/2025/11/27/c...

@wildwonder.bsky.social
a small footpath winds through tall grasses
November 27, 2025 at 12:07 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Slow down to the speed of #wonder," says the generous, joyful naturalist & educator @johnmuirlaws.com co-founder of @wildwonder.bsky.social

Nature journaling isn’t about the journal, it’s about the journey.

#curiosity #art #science

lynnborton.com/2025/11/27/c... #curiosity #choosetobecurious
Curiosity & Nature Journaling, with John Muir Laws
"Slow down to the speed of wonder." ~ John Muir Laws. This is an episode about nature journaling, but Jack would be the first to say: it isn't about the journal, it's about the journey. He's developed...
lynnborton.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:40 AM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
A #curiosity practice pro tip for the holidays from Ashley Kirsner, founder of Skip the Small Talk:

Ask, "what was that like for you?"

An invitation to go deeper -- or not -- and a low-risk way to keep the conversation going.

Link to full curiosity conversation below.
High-rise buildings in a futuristic city emerge from clouds. Across wks are words "Curiosity Practice: Ask, "what was that like for you?""
November 22, 2025 at 4:37 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Some timely #curiosity research and advice. [gift link] wapo.st/48aZHui
Column | Defuse political tension in your family with one simple question
A common misperception is fueling political arguments. But new research shows it’s possible to correct it, in ourselves and our political foes.
wapo.st
November 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"It's really hard, unless you've been actively practice it, to be curious when you're not feeling safe," said my wise guest Ashley Kirsner founder of Skip the Small Talk.

Great convo re having meaningful conversations -- starting with complete strangers.

PLUS: Great tips for the holidays. Link ⬇️
a dock on a lake with mountains in the background and a parasailed up in the sky. Across the image is written, "It's really hard, unless you've been actively practice it, to be curious when you're not feeling safe."
November 21, 2025 at 2:27 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Enough with the polite, front parlor pablum of the past — and onward toward rich #discussion, mindful discourse, self-disclosure, and – dare I say it? – #curiosity!

Enter Skip the Small Talk.

lynnborton.com/2025/11/20/s...
Skip the Small Talk, with Ashley Kirsner
Enough with the polite, front parlor pablum of the past -- and onward toward rich discussion, mindful discourse, self-disclosure, and – dare I say it? – curiosity! Wanting to do something about the ep...
lynnborton.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:40 AM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Throughout all my years of teaching and making new works for the theater, I realized how you really have to be curious about life. More than anything, it's about life, about living, about people." ~ renown #playwright Stan Lai

Listen here: lynnborton.com/2025/11/13/c...
November 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"In starting to understand how to get to what you need to know, you have to first start with knowing what you don't know." ~ Stan Lai

Playwright Stan Lai & I talk about #creativity, #curiosity and the power in knowing what you don't know...

Listen here: lynnborton.com/2025/11/13/c...
Old Chinese tea pots are lined up against a wall. Above them are the words, ""In starting to understand how to get to what you need to know, you have to first start with knowing what you don't know."
November 14, 2025 at 5:44 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Everything is our teacher." ~ Stan Lai

Playwright Stan Lai's warmth and wisdom just kept coming in our conversation about the practice and mastery of creativity -- what he calls "creativitry".

I hope you'll listen: lynnborton.com/2025/11/13/c...
An aged bamboo fence recedes into the background. Across the image are the words, "Everything is our teacher."
November 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Playwright and director Stan Lai has #theater companies in both Shanghai and Taiwan and his book on creativity has sold a 1,000,000+ copies in Chinese. We talk about his concept of "creativitry", the practice and mastery of #creativity -- & where #curiosity fits in.

lynnborton.com/2025/11/13/c...
Curiosity & Creativitry: The Know-How, Practice & Mastery of Creativity, with Stan Lai
“Creativitry”, writes legendary playwright Stan Lai in the preface to his new book of that name, "Doesn’t exist as a word. Just as all creative things do not exist -- until they do. "Rhymes with Artis...
lynnborton.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:14 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"How can we be in #community together and give each other access in a way that will foster greater connection and will result in the best interaction possible?" ~ Qudsiya Naqui

listen: lynnborton.com/2025/11/06/c...
A dock reaches out toward lake horizon with mountains in the distance.
November 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Today is a special milestone for Choose to Be Curious. On this date three years ago the show debuted on Radio Asheville - WPVM 103.7.

Thank you WPVM for all that you did and do for me, curiosity, and community radio around the country! #LPFM #choosetobecurious #gratitude
November 10, 2025 at 2:29 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"Being in disability," says law professor and #disability advocate Qudsiya Naqui, "has stripped away my tendency to make assumptions...and rather than assuming, #listening ...Really trying to understand what someone's human bodily, mental experience is."

lynnborton.com/2025/11/06/c...
A golden mowed field disappears to the horizon with a vidid blue sky and fluffy clouds. Across the whole image are the words "Being in disability has tripped away my tendency to make assumptions...and, her than assuming, listening...Really trying to understand what someone's human, bodily, mental experience is."
November 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
How might understanding the experiences of #disability help us be more #curious about our own and others’ minds and bodies?

And, most importantly, how might any of that help us be #kinder and more #patient with ourselves and each other?

Qudsiya Naqui has thoughts.

lynnborton.com/2025/11/06/c...
Curious in Body & Mind, with Qudsiya Naqui
How might understanding the experiences of disability help us be more curious about our own and others' minds and bodies? And, most importantly, how might any of that help us be kinder and more patien...
lynnborton.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:40 AM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Election Day all around the country. Take a little advice from some wise high school students I knew back in the day...

VOTE!

#vote #howtochangetheworld #choosetobecurious #WOFA
November 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
I had to sit with this one for a while.

"To use connection as a tool, connection can't be the goal," says Brian Fretwell. What do you think?

Catch the entire conversation here: lynnborton.com/2025/10/30/c...
A bright blue sky shows through a network of wires and stretched geometric canvases, with the words "To use connection as a tool, connection can't be the goal."
November 2, 2025 at 3:49 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
"There's something different that happens when another human is asking you the question," Brian Fretwell assured me. And I think he's right. Very cool things happen when we're in curious conversation with one another...

I hope you'll listen: lynnborton.com/2025/10/30/c...
Only the lower half of two women's bodies are visible as they walk along a sun-drenched boardwalk together. Their shadow stretch toward the viewer, the beach is behind them. Across the boardwalk are the words, "There's something different that happens when another person is asking you the question."
November 1, 2025 at 8:33 PM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Brian Fretwell’s work grows out of a rich mix of neuroscience, anthropology, leadership and self-interested curiosity.

Rather than obsessing about where we fell short, he encourages us to learn from our successes instead.

The secret is connection.

lynnborton.com/2025/10/30/c...
Curiosity & Finding Good, with Brian Fretwell
Brian Fretwell's work grows out of a rich mix of neuroscience, anthropology, leadership and what you might call self-interested curiosity. Rather than obsessing about where we fell short and consoling...
lynnborton.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:51 AM
choosetobecurious.bsky.social
Curiosity has consequences -- and, happily, once you see some of the delights others have noticed, you can't not see them as well!

This is among the many delights of PechaKucha. Check out my conversation about curiosity at PechaKucha Night Knoxville: lynnborton.com/2025/10/23/c...
What appears to be a can of red paint spills down stone steps -- but it is an art installation. "Once you see it, you can't not see it." is written around the edges of the picture.
October 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM