WellBeing

Wired for wonder

The more grateful you feel, the more you see the world as a good place and the more you experience moments of awe and wonder. I call this circular process the “gratitude/wonder loop”.

Do you do the same things day in and day out? Does life feel a little “same old, same old” and lacking in vibrancy? When was the last time you felt amazed by the world, yourself and those around you?

The dictionary defines wonder as “a feeling of amazement and admiration caused by something beautiful, remarkable or unfamiliar” or a “desire to know something; to be curious and to marvel”. There is so much wonder to be experienced, from the everyday to the extraordinary, but it requires a certain type of “seeing” that starts with developing a curious mindset.

How often do you seek out novelty and the unfamiliar? Playing it safe has a flow-on effect. In his article, Effects of Novelty and Danger on the Brain, Keith Hillman says, “A complete lack of novelty and excitement means that we aren’t testing ourselves, we aren’t learning, we aren’t growing … and our performance and our health thus suffer as a result.”

By adopting a more wondrous and curious approach

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