The Power of Wonder Quotes

“Addiction, OCD, and mood disorders like depression and anxiety share a central feature: a narrow self-focus and intrusive rumination. For addiction, that rumination is cyclical, quieted only temporarily by the object of the given addiction—whether it is a substance or a behavior—and then it is set in motion again as soon as the object fades from focus. For OCD and eating disorders, that rumination manifests in uncontrollable compulsive behavior. For depression, it manifests as a sense of failing, catastrophization, and guilt. Hendricks sees this short-circuiting of rumination as the most significant potential benefit of psychedelics. “You think of somebody who’s addicted to a drug, and they’re almost spinning their wheels, thinking about how am I going to get it next? And if you can have an experience in which you’re suddenly thinking outside of yourself, you break from these self-nagging thoughts. Suddenly, you’re not even thinking about your desire, your craving, for that”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“What kinds of people typically pursue a “psychologically rich” life? Those high in openness, intellectually curious, with a flexible world view, who experience big emotions and like to make meaning out of them—wonderprone people.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“One study had strangers ask each other personal questions and found that those who showed genuine curiosity about their interlocutor were rated friendlier (and more attractive). Research also indicates highly curious people appear to be less affected by social rejection, making them less hesitant to socially engage.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“One way to slow down and cultivate a wonder practice is by stopping to consider the gifts we regularly receive in our life. In the same way that it’s nice to thank someone who has given us a new teapot or a pair of slippers, it behooves us to consider the source of more meaningful gifts, like good health or a warm home, and give thanks for them as well. If comparison is the thief of joy, it is also the thief of gratitude. When we compare what we have to that of others, we often compare up and thus feel a sense of regret at what we don’t have, and as those comparisons compound throughout our adult life, so do regret and resentment. If, however, we look at life through a wonder lens, like the open, curious eyes of a child, we can see the gifts we have with greater clarity. “We find gratitude journaling works so well with children because they have this innate sense of wonder. They don’t have the layers added on with obstacles that come later in life,” explains Robert Emmons, gratitude expert and author of the book Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. “There’s a very intimate connection between a sense of wonder and a sense of gratitude.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“In a 2014 Pew Research Center study looking at the connection between religion and wonder, almost half of Americans surveyed reported feeling a deep sense of wonder about the universe once a week or more, and almost three-quarters of those who were wonderprone also had a greater sense of spiritual peace and well-being. Both prayer and meditation increased their sense of wonder, but it was those religious adherents who took their scripture less literally who were more wonderprone. This finding mirrors Jim Garrison’s experience—rigid ideologies do not make room for wonder. Ritual, gratitude, and reverence are good habits to practice, however one may come to them—practice being the operative word. These habits nurture wonder and sit at the heart of the symbiosis between wonder and religion, but what denomination these wonder-seekers follow is inconsequential. Wonder responds to the light, not the color it shines through.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Instilling, through a pedagogy and an ethos, the importance of questions is the key to curiosity and wonder, and even imagination. Because if you think you know, then curiosity or wonder or imagination becomes irrelevant. Because you already know.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“When Apollo 9 lunar module pilot Russell “Rusty” Schweickart saw Earth from space, he said, “From the moon, the Earth is so small and so fragile and such a precious little spot in that universe that you can block it out with your thumb. Then you realize that on that spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you—all of history and music and poetry and art and death and birth and love, tears, joy, games, all of it right there on that little spot that you can cover with your thumb. And you realize from that perspective that you’ve changed forever, that there is something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Eyelashes are slightly curved at the end, eyeballs are raised in wonder, and the eyes are charmingly widened.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“I guess it takes some sort of hope to seek wonder, but in that hope there is bravery, too. Because by seeking it, we are expressing that we are open to change, curious for connection, willingly vulnerable in the presence of transcendence.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“current hypothesis is that psychedelics will work on disorders where there is a great deal of internalized thinking. Rumination, whether it’s about depressive thoughts, whether it’s about alcohol, whether it’s about heroin, whether it’s about cleanliness and OCD, whether it’s about body shape as in anorexia, I think those disorders will respond.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“The disproportionately high number of survivors tend to be those in the medical profession. And, of course, this makes sense. Because if you’re in a survival situation—POW camp, or a life-raft, or a shipwreck or something like that—whether you’re a doctor, whether you’re a nurse, whether you’re a paramedic, you have that purpose given to you. Other people don’t tend to have that sort of purpose. And they need to find it.” Leach explains that pursuing purposeful goals and succeeding at them is a crucial component of resilience. This kind of purposeful goal-setting hinges on staying open and curious, as exploratory behavior feeds the day-to-day drive required to set and achieve goals.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Friendship itself may also inspire wonder, especially if we see our friends perform deeply compassionate or impressive acts. More often, however, a parea acts as an amplifier and multiplier of wonder. We know that people who regularly experience wonder are more generous with their time, more likely to offer a helping hand, more compassionate, and more empathetic. They also deprioritize their needs for the needs of the group. Those are unquestionably great qualities in a friend, and wonder serves to cultivate them all.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Empathy is very likely an evolutionary precursor to love, and it now serves as the primary nourishment in all our relationships, as well as being an outcome of a wonder practice.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“And to be clear, art in this context isn’t just something visual hanging on the walls. It imbues all parts of our life, from fashion and decor to design and architecture (and I would happily argue even food).[*] Art is poetry and spoken word, theater and music. It is film and photography and dance. It is a perfect pillow of agnolotti on a pool of tomato cream. Borrowing Tolstoy’s definition, art is anything that communicates emotion.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“But Stellar is keen to share that openness in this context isn’t just about being more open to experience; it is about being open to the world, to ideas, and other people.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“So, what kind of mindset makes someone wonderprone? People who are wonderprone are present, open, mentally nimble, and curious about new ideas, people, and things in a deep and exploratory way. They enjoy the process of becoming intellectually engaged and absorbed in meaning-making pursuits. They are deeply moved by music and can get lost in vivid thought. They find satisfaction in chewing on abstruse ideas and are comfortable with the unknown and unknowing. They walk toward questions rather than away. And they seek and embrace opportunities for transcendence, growing in their desire to contribute and connect with others.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“When he whittled, curls of wood snowing from his hands, he was perfectly absorbed in the moment, content within a complete and comfortable abandon. So total was his absorption that I would almost fall into his rhythm myself, gently rocking with every light stroke of his arching knife.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Curiosity improves our life skills, decreases bias, and increases well-being. Curious people are more empathetic, and, as with openness, they are also happier, less stressed, and more comfortable with ambiguity. In contrast, the absence of exploratory behavior is associated with an increased risk of everything from self-harm and body dysmorphia to groupthink, prejudice, and low empathy.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Open observation of our internal consciousness paves the way for curious exploration of our external world.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Openness to experience is a personality trait associated with a number of characteristics like cognitive flexibility, intellectual curiosity, unconventional thinking, and absorption, and researchers have consistently found people high in openness to be naturally energetic, inventive, and compassionate. And because of these characteristics, and the broader nature of the experiences open people typically seek out and encounter, people high in openness frequently live nonconforming, less traditional lives.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“Oishi had research assistants review and code obituaries for an entire year from a major US newspaper and found that there were three primary ways people were described as having lived a good life—it was either happy, meaningful, or filled with fascinating encounters and experiences; that is, psychologically rich.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead