If you haven’t heard it from me enough, I’ll say it again: cultivating wonder is good for us all! I’m going to share some things you might try today or this week if you’re seeking more wonder, awe, and joy.
Why now?
While I always hope this podcast is uplifting, I can’t produce it in a vacuum as if I feel all is well in the world. And since I don’t feel that way now (and you may not either), I’ve recorded this episode about how cultivating wonder can be its own form of resistance to the troubling things happening in the world.
The resources I mention:
Heather Cox Richardson on why joy is a form of resistance (YouTube, Red Wine and Blue)
Netflix: Unknown Cave of Bones
Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk) www.soundcloud.com/jenseast
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution V4.0
Listen on Podbean:
Listen on YouTube:
Transcription (remember, this is a direct transcription of what I said and is not actually how I write!):
Welcome to 9 Minutes of Wonder. I’m Betsy Hedberg. I hope this podcast will help you rekindle your sense of wonder for this awe-inspiring world. If you like what you hear in the next few minutes, please subscribe and share.
Hi everyone, hope you’re doing well today, whatever day it is that you’re listening to this.
Today I want to address the question of why I think we need to cultivate wonder and awe and also joy now. It’s always important, but I feel like it’s extra important right now.
I’m recording this on Monday, the 7th of April, 2025. I don’t know when you’ll be listening to this, but if it’s long in the future, you can look back and see what was going on around this time, or you might remember.
This is definitely not a political podcast, and it never will be, but in a way everything relates. And I know that many of you feel like the world is getting scarier and more uncertain and more unstable. I’m definitely feeling that way. Things are changing really quickly, and a lot of us are worried about a variety of things. I feel like I would be tone deaf if I didn’t mention this and then just continued with the podcast acting like I was creating it in a total vacuum, pretending nothing was going on. That’s not me. I can’t do that.
This past weekend there were some very large protests, not only in the United States but in other cities around the world. There was one in Lisbon, which is about four hours away from me, and I didn’t go because of the distance. And I’m not really the type of person to organize something close to me. I wish I were more like that.
But, you know, I’ve also been thinking about how just taking time to do our own work, our own creative projects, and the work that we do, whether or not it’s for money — maybe it’s for raising your children or spending time with your grandchildren or volunteering — but taking the time to do the things we do anyway, and do them well, is its own form of resistance to the problems that are going on.
And taking time to appreciate things that inspire wonder is a form of resistance on its own, not just an escape, because joy and wonder embody the opposite sort of reaction that certain people want us to have. It’s okay to feel fear, but joy and wonder can dampen fear and anger and make us feel more empowered and more motivated to do good things.
Don’t just take it from me. Some of you may follow Heather Cox Richardson, and back at the end of January she said, and I’ll quote, “Don’t stop doing the things you love because you are scared, because that is actually a form of resistance. Showing up and doing things you love says to an authoritarian, ‘you have no place to root here.’ And that’s going to be really important going forward.”
So what are some things you can do today or this week to instill some wonder in yourself and in your own life, and maybe in the lives of other people too?
I’ll start by telling you some of the things I did this weekend.
I went to the opening of an art exhibit where some of my friends are exhibiting beautiful paintings. And that was held in this gorgeous garden of the city where I’ve been living two years, and I hadn’t even been to that garden before. So I discovered something new.
I spent some time in my new garden. I’ve rented a plot in a community garden and hope it’s going to grow nicely this summer, but you never know with a garden. I’m experimenting, and when I’m working there, I just forget about everything else. So that was a good thing.
I went to a meeting of a group that I’m in, and the woman there gave a presentation about creative writing and had us do some creative writing, which I haven’t done in several years. So that was inspiring for me. I think I’ll, hopefully if I find time, do more of that.
But here are a few ideas for you, and I’m sure you can think of things that just…you don’t need to listen to me really, if you can get in touch with things that make you feel not just good…I mean, it’s great to have some pizza and beer and feel good, and I like to do that too, but thinking about things that inspire that sense of wonder in you that really make you feel like you’re connected with the world in a way that feels good, not in a way that’s like, oh yeah, I’m looking at the news again.
So here are some ideas that I came up with, and of course, think of your own:
Go outside to a place that has a few trees and stand or sit for 10 minutes without looking at your phone or listening to music or doing anything else, no conversations, just be there quietly and wonder at how those trees can grow out of tiny seeds. I always think that’s incredible.
Or watch one bird for five minutes, or however long the bird sticks around for you to watch it, and wonder at how this bird has a complete life of her own that you hardly ever notice, but now you are.
Or watch a livestream on Explore.org, and I’ll leave the link to that in the notes. They’ve got livestreams of all sorts of animals — horses, kittens, puppies, tropical fish, wolves, red pandas, and many, many others, and it’s fun to watch and I find it inspires some wonder in me.
Write a note to a dear friend and let them know that you’re thinking about them, and maybe reminisce about something you did together that made you feel really good.
Or listen to your favorite music without any other distractions. Even better, dance to your favorite music, even if it’s only for a few self-conscious minutes in your own home.
Visit an art gallery or museum, enjoy the art, and reflect on how people created this art because their innately creative human spirit compelled them to do it, not to make money or do anything related to commercial interests. In fact, unless it’s a major art museum, they probably didn’t or won’t make any money from it, or very much, but they wanted to share it with you anyway.
Or visit a natural history museum and contemplate deep time as you look at dinosaur skeletons, other fossils, prehistoric flint tools, ancient drinking vessels, or other very old artifacts.
Or look at the sky tonight if it’s clear enough for you to see anything, and even if you can only see a few stars because you’re in a city, for example, contemplate how far away and huge these stars are, and how many stars and galaxies are way farther away than that. It’s really, really awesome to think about, of course, and it’s something that we usually, you know, we usually don’t look up.
If you’re into sports, find some video clips of amazing sports moments and marvel at how people can do such things.
Or plant some seeds in a pot, indoors or outdoors, and marvel at how such tiny things can grow into beautiful flowering plants or delicious herbs or vegetables, and then see if you can nurture that plant so that actually happens.
Or watch a documentary about human prehistory, like the one on Netflix called Unknown Cave of Bones. I really recommend it, it was pretty incredible.
Or pet a dog, cat, or rabbit, and think about how cool it is that domestic animals like this evolved alongside people to be our helpers and our friends.
Now, if you have younger children at home, or if you have younger grandchildren nearby, of course you’ve got endless opportunities for experiencing and exploring wonder with them. So please do that. Take some time and let them lead the way in what’s going to inspire wonder for you.
But with or without children, spend time with people who you really like, and take a moment to reflect on how important your close relationships are in your life.
Those are the ideas I came up with. There are many, many, many more. I invite you to think of something for yourself. And if you’re watching this on YouTube, you can leave me comments. I always like to see those.
I hope that you can find some wonder this week and every week going forward. And I’ll talk to you soon.