Taking a Wonder Walk

The great thing about wow moments is that they are everywhere. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “wow” is an interjection used to express a strong feeling, like pleasure or surprise. If you look around, there’s bound to be something that wows you.

One of my most thought-provoking interviews this year was with Monica C. Parker, author of The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead. We talked about the pursuit of happiness, which is an American obsession. She noted that it’s even baked into the creation of the country. The problem with this pursuit is that only some of us know what makes us happy.

“We all have a happiness baseline,” she told me. “One of the challenges is that when we get something that makes us happy, it’s often only for a very short period of time. Then, we generally go back to our baseline.”

Instead of focusing on happiness, which can make you unhappy, Monica recommends chasing wonder, which is more achievable. Wonder can lead to wow moments, which are, at their core, new experiences.

“The brain notices newness,” Monica explained. “When we are exposed to something new, we study the details of it more closely. So, the more that we can introduce novelty into our mind, the more that we will notice the wonder that exists in it.”

A fun exercise is to go on a wonder walk. Research from the University of California, San Francisco, found that wonder walks have physical benefits. Scientists conducted a study in which one group of participants was told to go on a regular walk, and another group was told to go for a walk and look for things that had a sense of wonder.

The regular walkers reported moderate benefits when they returned. However, these were often short-lived because they focused or even ruminated on other things while outside. On the other hand, the wonder walkers had the benefits of lower stress hormones that lasted into the following week.

“Wonder walking primes your brain,” Monica told me. “When you tell your brain ‘I want to find something,’ it commits more cognitive energy towards finding it.”

Wonder and wow can be found anywhere if you’re open and willing to look. I recently went on a wonder walk and found a large feather on the sidewalk. It made me wonder what kind of bird had feathers that big. I stood near a flowering Magnolia tree and took in its fragrance. My neighbor wowed me by inviting me to take a blossom home.

On your next walk, consider leaving your earphones at home. Instead, be entertained by your surroundings. You never know what you’ll find on a wonder walk that can make you say “wow.”