Creativity and curiosity are two of the most important constructs studied in psychology describing human growth, invention, and adaptation (Ivancovsky et al.). It can be argued that closely related constructs also include openness to experience and cognitive flexibility, both particularly associated with psychological well-being and, in general, with the human experience of thriving and flourishing (Dahl, Wilson-Mendenhall, & Davidson, Reference Dahl, Wilson-Mendenhall and Davidson2020). All these aspects refer to and contribute to explaining the concept of novelty seeking, as persuasively reported by Ivancovsky et al.. This aligns seamlessly with the foundational tenets of mindfulness within the Langerian framework, which places novelty seeking as a cornerstone (Langer, Reference Langer1989, Reference Langer2023). Mindfulness can be approached as the reverse of mindlessness, which is what happens when the mind “is not there,” being stuck on rigid schemas and relying on automatic pilot. When mindless, people can hardly create anything new, as they are simply reproposing existing patterns; similarly, there is no space for curiosity, as an assumption that supports the application of a rigid schema is the predictability of the context. For similar reasons, mindlessness is incompatible with openness and flexibility. On the contrary, when people are mindful, they are open to novelty with a curious and flexible attitude, paying attention to the variability of the experience. The essence of Langerian mindfulness is attention to variability, a quality of being in the present requiring the understanding that everything, including ourselves, is constantly changing. It is, therefore, incompatible with the mindless idea that a schema can predict or completely describe any situation, whether from the internal or the external world, and it requires the ability to tolerate uncertainty. Being mindful also entails the capacity to adopt multiple perspectives of the current context, facilitating the creation of new categories. In brief, mindfulness is a necessary condition for both curiosity and creativity, and they both contribute to its extent.

Both curiosity and creativity – and the same idea can be extended to openness and flexibility – have already been studied under a common umbrella that defines and extends their potential: the mindfulness framework. Both curiosity and creativity require a reduction in the importance of prior knowledge, focusing on a present that a person actively constructs, by emphasizing the role of the current experience (Pagnini, Barbiani, & Phillips, Reference Pagnini, Barbiani, Cavalera, Volpato, Grosso, Minazzi and Phillips2023). Apart from being interrelated from a theoretical standpoint and contributing to the description and operationalization of mindfulness from a sociocognitive perspective (Langer, Reference Langer1989), the association among these aspects has been extensively studied. Over the course of approximately four decades, research in the realm of mindfulness has diligently explored the intricate interplay among these constructs. For example, the Langer Mindfulness Scale, the most prominent tool for assessing Langerian mindfulness, includes four subscales: Novelty Seeking, Novelty Producing, Flexibility, and Engagement (Pirson, Langer, & Zilcha, Reference Pirson, Langer and Zilcha2018). The first two factors directly pertain to curiosity and creativity, respectively. These scales are typically highly correlated with each other (Haigh, Moore, Kashdan, & Fresco, Reference Haigh, Moore, Kashdan and Fresco2011). One recurring finding from studies in this field is that when individuals observe or generate novelty, they acknowledge that actions and beliefs are context-dependent. This awareness can make mindful individuals less susceptible to cognitive biases and less likely to rely on inappropriate heuristics (Maymin & Langer, Reference Maymin and Langer2021).

Although the connection among creativity, curiosity, and mindfulness is evident in the Langerian framework, similar outcomes can be observed using a more contemplative approach to mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn, Reference Kabat-Zinn1994). Specifically, creativity is strongly linked to the ability to observe and mindfully attend to various stimuli (Baas, Nevicka, & Ten Velden, Reference Baas, Nevicka and Ten Velden2014), and curiosity is both stimulated and encouraged by mindful meditation practices, such as inviting a “beginner's mind” (Schattner, Reference Schattner2015).

One curious fact about curiosity itself is the additional distinction introduced from a perspective of Langerian mindfulness: One can be mindlessly or mindfully curious about new things, but one can only be mindfully curious about old things. Questioning mindlessly held assumptions cannot be done while mindless. In this and other respects, the insight that mindfulness is a necessary condition for creativity and knowledge generation can aid in both the design of future experiments and act as a guidepost for day-to-day living. The difference between mindfulness and curiosity is that the latter too often results in mindlessness if once you satisfy your curiosity, you think you know, though you don't know what you don't know – independent of context or perspective.

All the findings obtained within the mindfulness framework not only support the authors' conclusions but also provide a pathway for further expanding their thesis. Although creativity and curiosity have been theoretically and empirically integrated under the mindfulness umbrella, particularly through the concepts of novelty seeking and novelty producing, there are other dimensions of this multifaceted concept yet to be explored. The intricate construct of Langerian mindfulness also encompasses openness and cognitive flexibility, which have been independently examined. An approach similar to the one used by Ivancovsky et al. could extend the current findings, investigating the aspects that interconnect all these concepts, most of which have likely been addressed in decades of mindfulness research.