Wonderment

‘Tis the season for unbridled nostalgia and mirth. Each year we revisit our youth through the honoring of sacred traditions and reliving precious childhood memories. Through this exercise of annual reverie we are reminded of a magical time of childhood wonderment, a wonderment it seems,  we are never quite capable of recapturing. I’ve often reflected on the source of this wonderment. Where does it come from, what fuels it and ultimately what snuffs it out? It seems, perhaps, that the wonder ceases because we simply cease to recognize it.

Despite what we have been conditioned to believe, the anticipation we felt as children over what gifts awaited us each year was never really about the content of the package, but about the POTENTIAL of the content. In those anxious moments leading up the big day, each present came to represent limitless possibilities, tethered only by our imagination. With each subsequently unwrapped gift we were introduced to even greater potential. Every surprise we’ve ever received further expanded the possibilities until we came to impart the unopened present with mythical powers. The power of hope and the power of belief. 

Somewhere along the way these powers wavered and perhaps because our burgeoning adolescence demanded it, we let disappointment carry the day. We became self-conscious of the vulnerability that anticipation breeds and constructed defensive battlements to protect against the now very real threat of disappointment. It became less cool to be excited, and this coupled with the allure of adult freedom, effectively dosed the flame of wonderment.  

So what can be done about this, (knowing is after all only half the battle). It may take conscious effort but we can reconnect with that once boundless wonder and strive to let the thrill of the possibilities wash over us. Perhaps the mere recognition of the cause will rekindle that once gloriously glowing fire of our youth and set the torch of wonderment ablaze in each of us again.