310. Biohacking Curiosity for Physicians: What Shuts It Down and What Brings It Back
If someone asked what you want right now — not what you should do, not what is expected, not what comes next on the list — but what you actually want — what would you answer?
Most physicians have been so focused on what is expected, what needs to get done, and what comes next that curiosity has quietly slipped out of reach. Not because anything is broken, and not because curiosity is gone. It has simply been crowded out by pressure, productivity, perfectionism, and the deeply conditioned belief that we should already know the answer.
In this episode, Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang explore the idea that curiosity is not random. It has causes and conditions — specific environments, rhythms, relationships, and practices that either support it or shut it down. When we understand what those conditions are, we can start intentionally creating more of them.
Jessie shares her airplane journal practice — reading her coaching notes and journal entries only while flying, in a bubble where no one can reach her — as a surprisingly powerful way to reconnect with what she wants next. Ni-Cheng describes how curiosity shows up for her through paddling, reading fiction, and moments in nature that spark a line of poetry or even a melody she has to capture on a hand-drawn musical staff before it disappears.
Together, they explore why curiosity is a physical quality, not just an intellectual one. The somatic experience of curiosity — openness in the chest, a sense of flow, energy, aliveness — offers real clues about how to cultivate more of it. They discuss what blocks curiosity in medicine: the industrialization of clinic schedules, time pressure, rigid environments, performative settings, and exhaustion. And they name what supports it: nature, safety, community, white space, play, unstructured time, art, strengths-based learning, and the permission to let things be imperfect and unfinished.
Ni-Cheng shares how she designed her clinic space at Coastal Pulmonary Associates in Encinitas using an optimal-healing-environment philosophy — earth-tone colors, natural materials, standing desks, artwork by her children, and photos of nature — and how that environment supports both her patients and her own curiosity as a clinician.
The episode closes with a practical framework: clarity, creativity, and connection all show up when there is more room, not more thinking. What we practice grows. And curiosity grows through repeated conditions, not one big breakthrough.
PEARLS OF WISDOM
• Curiosity has causes and conditions. It cannot be forced, but it can be intentionally supported, cultivated, and practiced.
• For most physicians, curiosity has been pushed aside by urgency, productivity, perfectionism, and the belief that we should already know the answer.
• Curiosity is physical, not just intellectual. Noticing how it feels in the body — openness, energy, flow, a sense of aliveness — gives us real clues about how to create more of it.
• What shuts curiosity down most quickly: time pressure, judgment, exhaustion, rigid environments, and the need for a specific or immediate outcome.
• Clarity, creativity, and connection show up when there is more room, not more thinking. Solving and fixing mode is the opposite of curious mode.
• Strengths-based learning — focusing on what we are good at and what gives us energy — fosters more curiosity than self-correction and deficit-focused thinking.
• What we practice grows. Small, repeated conditions for curiosity matter more than one big breakthrough.
Reflection Questions
What conditions help curiosity grow for us, and what shuts it down most quickly?
Where do we feel more open, more creative, and more like ourselves?
What role do nature, community, and unstructured time play in our own clarity and creativity?
Where might less pressure help more curiosity show up?
What strengths in us might be asking for more room right now?
If we asked ourselves, "What am I curious about?" instead of "What should I do?" — what might change?
If this episode speaks to you, curiosity is the starting place, not the destination.
Listening is a beautiful start. Stepping into an environment designed for curiosity is where things begin to open.
The Connect in Nature retreat that Ni-Cheng and I will co-lead this summer is designed around everything we talk about in this episode: space, nature, community, embodiment, and the permission to explore without needing to produce or perform.
Retreats at Nicasio Creek Farm offer the same optimal conditions.
Coaching, one-on-one or in small groups, is another way to explore what you are asking for more room in your life.
www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats
www.jessiemahoneymd.com/jessies-blog
Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.
The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.
FAQs
What does "biohacking curiosity" mean in this episode?
It refers to understanding the specific causes and conditions — environmental, physiological, relational, and emotional — that support curiosity, and then intentionally creating more of those conditions in daily life. It is not about forcing curiosity. It is about making it more likely.
Do I need to be burned out to benefit from this episode?
Not at all. This episode is for anyone who feels disconnected from what they want, stuck in productivity mode, or unsure how to access creativity and clarity. It speaks to the quiet loss of curiosity that can happen even when things are going reasonably well.
What is the micro-practice from this episode?
Take a walk this week with no podcast, no music, no phone scrolling. Simply walk. Notice the support of the ground beneath your feet, notice what shows up when nothing is competing for your attention, and notice where your thoughts — and your feet — take you.