Being 3 years old in the back of a stuffy, sticky minivan and encapsulated by the classic Disney intro, life couldn’t get better. I had no idea what movie I was about to watch, I had no idea where I was going. Sometimes, the repeating of the insufferable, short, loud clips of trailers before the movie started was enough to consume me. It was always a 50/50 shot that the television would even turn on. The cheaply manufactured television strapped to the headrest would continuously glitch and stutter, but it wasn’t about that. It was about the feeling I was getting. In those moments I felt pure awe. Monica C. Parker captures all this emotion perfectly in ‘Power of Wonder’.
Now that I am older, replicating that feeling casually feels virtually impossible. Sure, I love a good classic Disney movie. Preferably not one of the million live-action remakes, but the classics are amazing. I could watch Tangled, eat junk food, and ask where my Flynn Ryder is, but nothing could match that youthful feeling of pure joy. As a child, every emotion feels enhanced because they are enhanced. Does this mean I won’t ever feel as happy as I did running loose in a Chuck-E-Cheese?
The Power of Wonder came out earlier this year in February 2023. I started this book over summer and it is beautifully written. Every point possible is hit. There are mentions of religion, sex, health, psychedelics, mental illness and the struggles of being so disconnected in an incredibly connected world.
Happiness is impossible. Regardless of how little regret you live with, you cannot ‘achieve’ happiness. Everyone on this Earth searches for a mission of accomplishing joy. This book is an important read for juniors who are soon becoming seniors. Ever since youth, children are used to hearing, “do what makes you happy” or “if you work a job that makes you happy, then it won’t feel like work”. Realistically, what makes us happy? Is it even realistic to work a job just to be happy? In this economy, no, but that’s not the point of this.
Wonder is a global feeling. Regardless of your religion, sex, ethnicity or country, you have felt wonder. Wonder is the feeling that makes your hair stand up on your arms, the feeling that makes you want to go pro-social. Wonder is the feeling that makes you want to go help someone else, or even share it. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s just the desire to share joy. Today, that prosocial feeling after awe is vital. Empathy levels have dropped almost 50 percent in the past twenty years.
How can one lead a wonder-full life? Going to a farmers market and taking in everything. Going for an awe-walk and notice something new. Go to the museum that you have procrastinated in. Take a new route to work. Wake up a little earlier and see how much more you could get done. Instead of being satisfied by a google search, try to learn a fulfilling amount of a topic. Music is the best way to inspire awe.
The author is incredibly well spoken in her words, forcing readers to actually think and interpret her writing. She included lots of quotes such as this one from Mark Twain, “Man is the only animal that blushes—-or needs to.” She covered everything in the topics of wonder, pleasing any type of audience. From neuroscience to literature, from philosophy to folklore, there is not a topic brushed over. She shows how a change in perspective can simply change your life.
As flesh, we misjudge what we want, and there’s actually a term for this. Affective forecasting is a ‘miswant’ that we have been conditioned to believe will make us happier than they do, such as the newest trendy item. Everyone wants a happy life, but when researchers were asked to consider what they regret missing out on in the past, it reflected a psychologically rich life. Participants expressed regret on not going to college or missing out on opportunities to travel. Naturally, as people, we have a desire to know, and by simply fulfilling this need to know, we’re creating joy.
Fulfill your human desire to know, do something new, and keep learning. By leading a life-chasing awe instead of happiness, there can be fulfillment in everyday life instead of working to it for ‘one day’. Parker says it better in her book, but happiness should not be a goal, instead rather a constant.
