Trying to “do” wonder immediately makes it harder to access. Effort is one of the things that blocks wonder most. If you say “now I have to be in a wonder state of mind,” that very intention takes you further away. But there’s never a moment when there isn’t something to be curious about — you don’t know how the bed sheets were made, who made them, whether the company still exists.
Curiosity is our nature. Children smile most not when they’re about to be fed but when they’re engaged in learning. Young kids love to learn until it gets kicked out of them. So the work isn’t to build something new but to undo everything blocking what’s already there.
“All you have to do is undo everything that’s taking you away from your nature. That’s it.”
The practical entry point is simple: ask yourself “What am I in wonder about right now?” ten times a day. Or question the assumptions in any thought. Or question the context. These aren’t techniques to force wonder — they’re ways to remove the obstacles of knowing that cover it up.
When wonder becomes a strategy — asking questions to avoid intimacy, or to create an outcome — it stops being wonder and starts feeling creepy and performative. The antidote: have wonder for the sake of wonder, for the sensations and awe it creates in your body.
Related Concepts
- Wonder is curiosity without needing an answer
- Accomplishment is undoing not doing
- Wonder is an antidote to fear