Follow your curiosity and you'll find tremendous light

It was a February morning in 2013 and I was standing on York railway platform waiting for my train.

I opened up Twitter and tapped out this message:

“Long day ahead, doing 'the Yorks' in one day > York, England - NYC”

Later that morning my phone pinged with a notification.

“If you have a spare moment in NYC I would love to say hello”

It was from a guy I didn’t know, someone called Matt Stillman. 

I thought I’d take a punt. So three days later we met for coffee in the lobby of the hotel where I was staying.

And I have to say, it was one of those most wonderfully enriching experiences: meeting someone who, until that morning, had been a stranger, and hearing his story.

And boy, what a story it was! 

For the previous four years, Matt told me he’d been running an experiment. Every Friday he takes the subway from his home in Harlem, New York, down to Union Square. There, he sets up a table with two chairs. He puts up a sign inviting people over, simply to discuss whatever’s on their mind. 

Matt explained he started the experiment after completing a course on how to think creatively. He’s listened to so many New Yorkers, from a gang member on the run to a woman having an affair. 

I asked: what had he learned by doing his experiment? And he said: “Follow your curiosity to the smallest corners and you'll find tremendous light there."

That sentiment speaks so deeply to me, particularly because that’s exactly what had happened in order for me to meet him that day. A stranger read my Tweet and reached out. I’d been curious and interested in meeting him. 

And what a wonderful story I uncovered because of it. 

How do you follow your curiosity, and what light do you uncover?