What happens when we decide we already know?

We talk about curiosity as though it's always available to us. As though staying open is simply a matter of asking better questions and being willing to understand another perspective.

But what happens when that perspective challenges something we've built part of ourselves around?

In this episode of The Hey Alexa Podcast, Alexa sits down with Mark Groves — Human Connection Specialist, founder of Create The Love, author, speaker, coach, and host of The Mark Groves Podcast — for a wide-ranging conversation about what actually makes curiosity possible.

Together, they explore the relationship between curiosity and security, why our capacity to understand others may begin with our willingness to investigate ourselves, and what happens when our beliefs become so intertwined with our identity that changing our minds can feel like losing part of who we are.

The conversation moves through relationships, triggers, self-worth, inherited beliefs, boundaries, belonging and our increasingly complicated relationship with attention and technology. Mark and Alexa explore why understanding someone doesn't require agreeing with them, why surrounding ourselves only with people who reinforce what we already believe can limit us, and how reclaiming our attention may be essential to reclaiming our capacity for curiosity.

And eventually, the conversation arrives somewhere bigger:

What if curiosity isn't simply a communication skill, but a way of choosing how we meet another human being?

Because behind every belief is a person — with experiences, relationships, fears, protections and an identity wrapped around how they've come to understand the world.

And sometimes asking a question isn't about changing someone's mind.

Sometimes it's simply a way of saying: there is still something about you worth discovering.

In this conversation

Curiosity, security and the nervous system • Self-worth and reactivity • Becoming curious about ourselves • Relationships as mirrors • Boundaries and discernment • Identity and inherited beliefs • Belonging and the courage to change our minds • Attention, algorithms and our relationship with technology • Understanding without endorsement • Diversity of thought • Curiosity in disagreement • Human connection in an increasingly divided world

Connect with Mark Groves

Mark is a Human Connection Specialist and the founder of Create The Love. His work explores relationships, personal growth, authenticity and what it means to live and relate with greater intention.

Mark Groves — Website
Instagram — @createthelove
Instagram — @itsmarkgroves
The Mark Groves Podcast

Mark's Free Digital Detox

During the episode, Mark talks about how our relationship with technology can affect our attention, our ability to create space for ourselves, and ultimately our capacity for curiosity. Near the end of your conversation, he specifically offers listeners his free Digital Detox, which he describes as being based on current research and filled with practical changes people can make to their relationship with technology.

Get Mark Groves' free Digital Detox

Mark's site describes it as a free, science-backed protocol designed to help people reclaim their focus, sleep and attention.

What if curiosity isn’t just something you have, but something you spend?

In this solo episode of The Hey Alexa Podcast, Alexa finally unpacks the phrase at the heart of the show: Curiosity is currency.

From years spent behind the bar talking to strangers, to conversations that became relationships, opportunities, new perspectives, and eventually this podcast, Alexa explores what can happen when we stop assuming we already know, and ask one more question instead.

Because curiosity has a way of disrupting certainty. It asks us to reconsider the people we think we know, stay interested in the people we love as they change, question the identities we've built for ourselves, and remain open to the possibility that there may be more to discover.

This is a conversation about people, relationships, opportunity, identity, assumptions, and why some of the most important moments in our lives begin with something as simple as wanting to know more.

And maybe curiosity isn't valuable simply because we possess it.

Maybe it becomes valuable when we're willing to spend it.

So this week, ask the question. Talk to the person you normally wouldn't. Revisit something you've been certain about. Get curious about someone you love—or about the version of yourself you've stopped questioning.

You don't have to know where the question will take you.

That's kind of the point.

🎙️ The Hey Alexa Podcast
Where curiosity is the currency of every conversation.

What if the things that teach us the most about money have very little to do with money?

In this episode of The Hey Alexa Podcast, Alexa sits down with Mike Milligan, CFP® founder of 1.oak Financial, author, educator and entrepreneur—to trace a story that begins at his grandmother's kitchen table and eventually becomes a much bigger conversation about what makes a life feel rich.

Mike grew up watching his grandmother turn necessity into entrepreneurship, selling collard sandwiches to support her family and teaching him some of his earliest lessons about money, resourcefulness and relationships. Decades later, after building a career in finance and entrepreneurship, his definition of success looks a little different.

Alexa and Mike talk about the moving finish line of “enough,” our obsession with productivity, the cost of sacrificing our health and relationships for success, why experiences may be worth investing in before retirement, and what happens when being good at making a living starts competing with being good at living.

And underneath all of it is a reminder Mike carries with him every day:

Never miss a moment.

Because the goal isn't simply to accumulate more. It's to build a life you'll actually remember.

Connect with Mike

Learn more about Mike's work, financial education and One-of-a-Kind approach to financial planning at MikeMilligan.com.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn

Interested in working with a financial planner? Mike founded 1.oak Financial, where his team builds personalized financial plans around an individual's goals, values and life rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Mike also currently offers a six-week Personal Financial Planning Course, taught virtually through Old Dominion University, designed to give participants practical financial-planning knowledge and tools. You can find course information and Mike's other educational offerings through MikeMilligan.com

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