Sebas Bravo

I remember some years ago when I just started university, a professor was assigned as my mentor. The mentor’s role was to guide you in your early steps and to help you create a definition of your “life plan.” So in my first interview, he asked me a very rare question that I had never asked myself: “What is your purpose?;” I don’t know if I just answered to get rid of the question or what happened, but I replied very fast “I want to inspire,” I said. Without knowing at that time, I didn’t answer just to say something, it was a deeper thing that wanted to come to light.

The years passed and the rare question did not cross my mind again, but internally, that answer had been shaping my decisions and actions. In my last year of university, I started two habits that would completely change my life: journaling and meditation. I became fascinated with the idea of knowing oneself better by continuously asking and asking questions to yourself; the constant accomplishment of these habits led me to face the rare question and finally reach the core of it.

Literally, in my last month of university I had my final interview with my mentor and, again, he asked me the question, but this time I answered with complete confidence, “I want to inspire.”

Purpose: inspire

I read this amazing book called “Think Like a Monk¹” by Jay Shetty, in which he writes about this wonderful concept called “Dharma².” Although it is hard to give a single definition to this word, it can be seen as ‘your calling,’ it is when your natural talents and passions connect with what the universe needs. By living your Dharma you get internally fulfilled, and in the phrase itself is the key: live; who you are is how you behave.

Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words. – Saint Francis of Assisi

Your passions, your energy, your feelings are not in your head, they are in your heart. When you protect them, they protect you. Your passion is for you, your purpose is for the world. With all these ideas in mind, it is clear to me that I want to inspire people, I want to craft a loveable object to light up the world. Consequently, my objective is to act with the example, showing that we can go beyond dreams bravely; and I am not saying that I am the best or that I am perfect (in fact, I am far from it), but what I really want is to grow together.

Growing together

Right back in university, during this difficult but also challenging period of exams, I was looking for a way to learn effectively. I found myself doing research on a method that allowed me to really comprehend the topics I was reading and to put into test what I have learned. After reading and testing, again and again, I reached this concept called “The Feynman Technique³,” which was created by the amazing and Nobel Prize-winner Richard Feynman.

The Feynman technique

Richard Feynman really believed that there were no “miracle people,” people that were just born with all the knowledge in the world, destined to be the greatest in their areas; on the other hand, he believed that all these talented people just, one day, decided fill all that curiosity they had with knowledge, so they just learned about stuff. Hence, what are the steps of this technique?

1. Choose to learn a concept
   • Select something that is interesting for you, a topic that gives you energy and makes you want to stand up from the chair with a big smile. Once selected, start learning and annotating.
2. Teach it
   • From the concept, take notes and write them down as if you were explaining the topic to yourself. The real goal is to understand rather than to memorize. Then, if possible, teach it to someone else.
3. If stuck, return to the source material
   • Go back to the main source and fill the gaps in your knowledge. Then return to step two.
4. Simplify and create analogies
   • Think of analogies to make it feel intuitive.

What we can conclude is that the heart of the Feynman Technique is in: teaching what you learn to better understand it and to create analogies to make it feel intuitive. This makes perfect sense to me and for my blog, because, again, what I most want is to grow together. So in a way, I am writing all this stuff to improve myself and to make personal progress; but if I have the opportunity to inspire at least one person in the world, that is something I cannot ignore.

Teaching to learn is a concept that really helps to grow. Therefore, I will also use this blog to grow in the most interesting topics I find in my life: curiosity, creativity, productivity, happiness, and more; but also, I am a Mechanical Engineer⁴ and the topics that fill me with excitement are: Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Motorsports, Design. So you can expect articles related to these topics.

I am following the bliss. What gives me energy is creating a craft that contributes to light up the world, it fills my Dharma and my life with creativity and joy. I know we all can contribute to make this world better, by making ourselves better, so let’s craft our lives and leave a heritage of inspiration. With all this in mind, I present to you… Curiosity Spark.

If you think you are too small to make a change, try sleeping with a mosquito. – Dalai Lama

Curiosity Spark

The Curiosity Spark Blog aims to ignite and nurture the spark of self-improvement, with the mission of helping people to dream up and design their lives to turn that spark into a blazing fire. The central question is: “How can we live in constant progress while enjoying the journey?”. If each day starts in black & white, and it’s up to us to put the color on, which colors would you add?

I decided to live a colorful life, one that has its greens (calm) and yellows (joy), but also its blues (sadness) and reds (frustration), because all of them are part of life; but the most exciting thing is that they all end, nothing last forever and we can paint our white canvas with our thoughts and actions each day. Let’s make a beautiful painting!

We are each on a journey, trying to figure out our next step. In this race of life, we are never early or too late, we are just in time; we are just living as it is supposed to be: step by step (Viventem Gradatim).

Structure of the blog

Now, I present to you what will be the structure of the blog:

• Quote
  • The central quote of the blog, the main phrase that drives all the writing and ideas.
• Introduction
  • Some sentences to warm up and be ready to fully get into movement.
• The Science
  • This blog will be science-based, so in this part of the blog I will present to you the driving investigation.
• The main concept
  • Normally, this main concept will be the title of the post, so here we will go deeply.
• Your ticket to improvement
  • Frankly, this is one of the things I am most excited about. I present this area below, but believe me, it is fascinating.
• Footnotes⁵
  • If you keep curious, you can find the main sources or further reading here.

🎫 Your ticket to improvement

In each of my posts you will find this subtitle, my intention is to leave an exercise in every post (don’t worry, they will all be easy and won’t take more than 5 or 10 minutes). One of my main beliefs is that we read to acquire knowledge, but it is worthless if we never apply it into our life, as Ryan Holiday states: “The goal is to put these words into works.” And that “work” could literally be anything: self-reflection, improvement, the start of an action, start crafting an idea, or words in your journal.

Very often, the exercises will be journal prompts, for these, I will ask you to see yourself as a “scientist of self-improvement,” one that seeks to find the formula to turn that spark into blazing fire. Therefore, create your hypothesis and do your experiments to validate if these actions work for you. Go to your Lab and start crafting (by the way, I have a free Excel called “The Lab⁶,” which is designed for these experiments).

Without further ado, let’s start with the first exercise:

Turning your spark on

I think every time we hear the word “purpose,” it makes us feel something inside our bodies and one image is quickly prompted in our minds. Now, mindfully think about “your spark,” that thing you know you want to pursue, the one that gives you energy. Following this thought, go to your Lab (the Lab you can get for free by subscribing or it can be your notes app) and write the title “Turning my Spark On.”

• Ponder about: “What activities make me lose track of time? What passions or talents feel effortless yet fulfilling? How are those actions meaningful? How do they align with the person I want to become?”

Let curiosity guide you, and be introspective with your answers. If possible, make a small plan to incorporate, at least, one of these activities into your weekly routine. Finally, by listing your passions and skills, draw connections between what you love doing and what the world needs. After doing this, you will feel your spark begin to ignite.

• If you need guidance. Imagine you are living your best life, where your spark is fully turned on: “What are the daily actions you take?”

Despite what you do, you are already making an impact in the world. I invite you to turn on your Curiosity Spark to leave a great legacy based on what you most love. Will you convert it into a blazing fire?

Footnotes

1. Jay Shetty is a best-selling author, and the creator of the podcast “On Purpose.” His book, Think Like a Monk, is a guide of how anyone can think like a monk by being: courageous, compassionate and determined. By the way, I have a page about my Book Notes, in which soon I will talk about this book. If you would like to learn more about the best books I’ve ever read, take a look here. ↩︎
2. To discover your Dharma, every time you finish an activity ask yourself: Did I enjoy the process? Do I want to learn more about it? Did other people enjoy the result? ↩︎
3. You can read more about Richard Feynman and his technique here. ↩︎
4. I invite you to take a look at my personal “About” page here. ↩︎
5. Yes, I have footnotes. Do not forget to read them! ↩︎
6. If you would like to get your Lab Excel completely for free, all you have to do is to subscribe to my Substack or to my newsletter (will come soon). ↩︎

Viventem gradatim; gradatim ferociter