Tracking Wonder

Tracking Wonder Plot Summary

Introduction

The morning light streams through my window as I sip coffee, gazing at the old oak outside. I'm struck by how its branches reach skyward—not in straight lines, but in beautiful, unpredictable patterns. For years, I hurried past this tree, too consumed with productivity to notice its quiet wonder. This morning, something shifted. The tree hadn't changed, but my perception had. This moment of wonder, brief yet profound, reminded me of our innate capacity to see the world anew—a capacity we often lose in our rush toward achievement and efficiency. Wonder is not childish fantasy or mere distraction—it's a radical act of perception that dissolves our biases and reconnects us with what is real, true, beautiful, and possible. In a world obsessed with productivity metrics and optimization, cultivating wonder offers a counterbeat, a rhythm that can transform our approach to creativity, relationships, and personal growth. Throughout these pages, we'll explore how wonder's transformative power works through six distinct facets—openness, curiosity, bewilderment, hope, connection, and admiration. You'll discover that by tracking these facets in your daily life, you can navigate uncertainty with greater flexibility, create with more inspiration, and build deeper connections with others, ultimately awakening to the extraordinary possibilities hiding within ordinary moments.

Chapter 1: The Alchemy of Wonder: Finding Gold in Life's Disruptions

I peeled a paperback edition of William James's "Essays on Psychology" from the burnt, blackened wall of my study. The book—containing the psychologist's observations on different kinds of focus and states of consciousness—had been compressed into the wall from the firefighters' hoses. I ripped from my singed walnut desk a copy of "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart" as I tried to hold myself together. In a stupor, I scanned the room: soaked books strewn on hardwoods, ash where my meditation table had been, and dim rays of sunlight penetrating through holes the firefighters had knocked in the walls. That summer had been relentless. My wife Hillary and I, newly married, had experienced two miscarriages. I had contracted Lyme disease. Then lightning struck our 1850 farmhouse, setting fire to my study—destroying twenty years of archives, three hundred books, and my laptop containing files for a new project. This was pre-cloud computing; my work was gone forever. We were displaced from our home for a year and a half. When I returned to assess the damage, the sky showed through holes in the walls and ceiling. I wanted to cry but couldn't find tears; I wanted to scream but couldn't direct the rage. I stood before that charred wall dizzy with both anger and a shred of acceptance about what would come next. I felt an overwhelming urge to shut down. Yet amid the black rubble, a small flutter of yellow appeared—a monarch butterfly had slipped in and landed on a smoked-out shelf. Its fuzzy torso was tiny, carrying enormous paragliding wings etched like stained glass. They waved back and forth, like palms pulsing in prayer. For a moment, the pieces I was fiercely holding together inside dissolved. For a moment, a strange sense of opening swept through me. Among the ruins of our simple dreams fluttered a small, winged hope. Feeling that beauty, fleeting as it was, I knew ultimately we would be okay. This butterfly's appearance wasn't just a beautiful coincidence; it represented wonder's power to provide perspective amid devastation. I realized that tracking wonder—being attentive to these fleeting moments that dissolve our rigid perceptions—could help me navigate the uncertainty ahead. Wonder became my guide through life's inevitable disruptions, showing me that transformation doesn't just happen despite chaos, but often because of it. The butterfly became the first notes in a new symphony I would compose.

Chapter 2: Beyond Bias: Opening to Possibility in a Cynical World

Cristian Fracassi never thought his curiosity could save lives. A civil engineer with a PhD in polymer science, Fracassi lives in Brescia, Italy. During the early 2020 pandemic lockdown, the coronavirus struck a nearby hospital particularly hard. To keep patients alive, they urgently needed special valves for respirators, but the manufacturer couldn't meet demand quickly enough. These valves were essential—connecting patients to ventilators and mixing filtered oxygen with air—and each valve needed replacement for each patient. Fracassi and his business partner Alessandro Romaioli wanted to help with what they had: a 3D printer and experimental spirit. The problem? Their five-year-old company had only made practical objects like bicycles and silicon bandages, never life-saving medical equipment. "We were very afraid," Fracassi said. "We never had to design so quickly, and we had never designed anything that could save human lives." When they visited the hospital and witnessed the doctors' desperation, Fracassi said, "We just tried to trick our minds and put aside fear to try to help." Their first attempts weren't quite right, but they persisted until they created a viable prototype. A doctor tested four valves, provided free of charge. After what seemed like an interminable half hour, the doctor emerged expressionless. For a few seconds, they feared failure. The doctor finally announced, "It works." An "exaggerated joy" overcame them. Then the doctor asked for one hundred more valves, which they promptly delivered—all free of charge. Fracassi and Romaioli then did something extraordinary: they made the "blueprint" open-source and downloadable for anyone. Support poured in from organizations, universities, and people worldwide. Multinational companies like Ferrari, Mercedes, and General Motors offered financial support, as did universities like Stanford, Columbia, and Harvard. "We have discovered that the world is big," Fracassi said, "and it is a friend when you try to do good instead of just fixate on making money." This insight captures the essence of wonder's transformative power in a cynical world. When we approach challenges with openness rather than defensive cynicism, we discover possibilities invisible to the closed mind. Our biases often prevent us from seeing what's possible, especially when we're facing intimidating obstacles or unfamiliar territory. What made Fracassi's story extraordinary wasn't just the technical achievement but his ability to move beyond fear and self-doubt toward possibility. This capacity to remain open when facing uncertainty—what we might call intelligent naiveté—is a crucial facet of wonder that all of us can cultivate. Like Fracassi, we can learn to set aside our self-protective biases and approach life's challenges with curiosity rather than fear, creating space for innovative solutions and unexpected connections to emerge.

Chapter 3: The Six Facets: Exploring Wonder's Multidimensional Power

Wonder is the singular experience that, for a fleeting moment, disrupts our awareness and dissolves our biases so we may see again what is real and true, beautiful and possible. It is essential for us to advance our best ideas for a better world and serves as our biological and neurological pause-and-reset button that makes us feel wildly alive again. But how do we track such ephemeral experiences? To track wonder effectively, I've discovered that it comes in different forms—or facets, as I prefer to call them. Think of facets as the faces on a prismatic gem that each catch the light and broadcast their own sparkly magic. Imagine a vast net extending across the sky, with a radiant gem at each node. Each gem contains many finely cut facets reflecting upon the facets of other gems, creating an infinite interrelated tapestry of light. The first facet is Openness, the wide-sky facet. This is wide-eyed wonder among grown-ups—the capacity to perceive a situation anew while pursuing knowledge or launching an endeavor. It helps you experience the world within and around you freshly, giving you an advantage with creative endeavors. The second facet, Curiosity, is the rebel facet—a proactive, playful mindset that questions everything and loves to overturn orthodoxy. It lets us pursue discovery, honor quirky interests, and keep learning. Bewilderment, the deep woods facet, is the disorienting dimension of wonder. It arises in response to simultaneous positive and negative input that could spark inaction or fear. When tracked properly, this fertile confusion can reshape your creative identity. Hope, the rainbow facet, is a buoyant feeling of possibility amid uncertainty. Like a personal rainbow of the mind, it illuminates profound changes in our lives and helps us find a way through suffering. Connection, the flock facet, is what we feel when wonder allows us to be, create, and feel supported with others. It teaches us how to attune with loved ones and deepen working relationships. Finally, Admiration, the mirror facet, is the emotion focused on others whose model of character or craft encourages us to become more of our genius selves. Tracking admiration reminds us how to see ourselves as sources of wonder for others. Understanding these six facets provides a framework for recognizing wonder's presence in our lives. This vocabulary helps us become more aware of these rippling moments and gradually foster more expansive experiences. By disrupting our default perception, wonder provides a launchpad for creativity, resilience, and connection—qualities essential for navigating our increasingly complex world.

Chapter 4: Reconnecting with Your Young Genius

I know a lot of two-year-olds who have genius. They are terribly observant, absolutely curious, willing to take risks.... How to hold on to that native genius and also learn the things we need to survive? These words from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Ellen Gilchrist capture a central paradox of growing up: we gain knowledge but often lose our innate capacity for wonder. The question becomes: how do we retrieve these youthful qualities without forsaking our adult responsibilities? Psychologists Darya Zabelina and Michael Robinson designed an experiment to test this question. They divided seventy-six undergraduates into two groups. The control group received a prompt: "You wake up one Monday morning to realize that your workday is cancelled. You have the day to yourself. What do you do?" The experimental group received the same prompt with one crucial difference: "You are seven years old." Each group wrote detailed responses. The control group typically focused on obligations: checking email, calling work, finishing homework. The experimental group wrote about desires: eating ice cream, visiting pet stores, playing in parks with friends. The difference was striking. But the study's key finding came next: when both groups took tests measuring creative performance, those who had adopted the seven-year-old's mindset significantly outperformed the control group in generating novel and useful ideas. The scientists concluded: "It is possible to recapture the spirit of play and exploration characteristic of childlike thinking." They noted that "thinking of oneself as a child, for a short period of time, appears to facilitate the sorts of playful, exploratory thinking processes conducive to creative originality." This concept of reconnecting with what I call your "young genius" became a watershed insight for my work. The term "genius" here isn't about exceptional IQ, but rather connects to its original meaning in Greek philosophy. The Greeks believed all of us are born with a distinct force of character, a unique guardian attendant within called a daemon. A consistent translation of daemon is "genius." This force reminds the person of their true nature or calling in the world. Your young genius is a reflection of your inner gifts that evolves throughout your lifetime. It holds memories of when you felt most alive, open, and free to be your unique self—whether building forts, writing stories, or exploring nature. When you regularly remember and recognize this force of character, it can guide you as you advance your best work and most meaningful life. When clients in my workshops reconnect with their young genius, something remarkable happens. One woman in her sixties had spent decades as a professor, daughter to an ailing mother, mother to troubled children, and wife to a distant husband. After reclaiming her young genius traits of curiosity and creative expression, she reimagined her retirement, starting a coaching business and hosting events showcasing her photography. "I'm not who I used to be anymore, and I don't know who I'm becoming," she told me. "And that feels amazing. As if for the first time in my life, anything is possible."

Chapter 5: Building Resilience: Bewilderment and Hope as Creative Catalysts

Tracy Fullerton had become surprisingly successful in the speculative digital world of the 1990s. As a woman pioneer in a male-dominated space, she founded Spiderdance, Inc., offering interactive television programming for MTV, NBC, and the History Channel—work that earned her an Emmy nomination. Her future looked bright on the cusp of the millennium, but then the dot-com bubble burst, and so did Fullerton's business. Something else popped open for Fullerton in this setback: her sense of who she was and what constituted meaningful work. While many peers sought comfort in quickly finding other jobs or numbing out, she took an extended break to reflect. She chose to feel the confusion rather than run from it. During this bewildering phase, Fullerton visited Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau had retreated to question conventional life and write his masterpiece on simple living. While wandering the woods, Fullerton got a seemingly paradoxical idea: What if she could create video games that countered typical adrenaline-producing scenarios with adventures that instilled meaning, contemplation, and wonder? What if it could be done in a way that contributed positively to our culture? What if that video game were based on Thoreau's life questioning our reliance on technology? These questions lit her up. She brought forward her young genius, her openness to possibility, and her curiosity. It would take Fullerton over a decade to realize this vision. In 2008, she became director of the USC Game Innovation Lab, finding allies who shared her questions. Despite having "no money and no prospect of any money," she persisted. She and her team created a book club, discussing which passages from Walden personally spoke to them. Five years later, they received their first funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, followed by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Sundance Institute. The result was "Walden, a game"—where players practice Thoreau's survival skills, gather wood, fish, maintain his cabin, and tend a garden. They learn about Thoreau's role in the Underground Railroad and his herbalism studies. As players become exhausted from hard-driving activities, the world goes increasingly gray and they lose "inspiration," which can be regained in the surrounding woods. Every effort was made to create an immersive environment with birds chirping, shadows rising and falling with the sun's movement, and seasons changing. Contemplative and soothing, it offered an extraordinarily different game experience while teaching transcendentalist philosophy. Fullerton's story illuminates how bewilderment and hope work together as creative catalysts. When we face disorienting transitions—whether chosen or thrust upon us—we enter what I call a state of "fertile confusion." If we can resist seeking easy solutions or reverting to old patterns, this state can transform our worldview, our sense of self, and our approach to complex endeavors. By embracing the energy of profound uncertainty and directing it toward meaningful creation, we turn apparent setbacks into opportunities for reinvention and breakthrough.

Chapter 6: Gifting Wonder: Cultivating Connection in Isolation

By the time Nick Cave had become a legendary alternative-rock songwriter and vocalist, tragedy befell his family. His fifteen-year-old son Arthur fell sixty feet from a chalk cliff and died of head trauma. Cave, a hands-on father, was devastated. In the 2016 documentary "One More Time with Feeling," Cave said: "I just don't have any handle on things anymore. It's frightening." He lost his grip on lyrical writing and his creative process. For someone accustomed to years of disciplined work habits, this period of grief was profoundly disorienting. You've likely had your share of setbacks and losses that sent you far from your imagined path. Emotional storms can extinguish your desire to pursue meaningful work. When your world loses its vibrant colors and uplifting soundtrack, what brings you back so you can make the work you're here for? For Cave, the first element was sincere, honest connection. His fans reached out with epic support, and Cave realized he and his wife Susie weren't alone in their suffering. He responded by starting "The Red Hand Files," a blog where he answers fans' questions with eloquent letters. Stripped of promotion or connection to selling albums, Cave held true to the premise: "You can ask me anything. There will be no moderator. This will be between you and me. Let's see what happens." But what especially brought Nick Cave back was creating again. In his first blog post, he described his and Susie's situation: "For a year it had been difficult to work out how to write, because the centre had collapsed and Susie and I had been flung to the outer reaches of our lives. We were kind of outlanders floating in deep space...lost in narcissism and self-absorption." What was the center of their lives? Cave said: "In an artist's case (and perhaps it is the same for everybody) I would say it is a sense of wonder. Creative people in general have a great propensity for wonder. Great trauma can rob us of this, the ability to be awed by things...We all needed to draw ourselves back to a state of wonder." Cave found his way back to wonder by working and connecting with his community. They gave him hope. He wrote at home instead of his office, allowing streams of thoughts, images, and ideas to accumulate. "I found with some practice," he said, "the imagination could propel itself beyond the personal into a state of wonder. In doing so the color came back to things with a renewed intensity and the world seemed clear and bright and new." Cave eventually produced the album "Ghosteen," an expression of wonder amid grief that referenced his son's presence after death. This capacity to gift wonder extends beyond established artists. During the isolation of pandemic lockdowns, Hollye Dexter watched her fourteen-year-old son grow increasingly depressed. They were supposed to have spent spring break in New York City seeing Broadway shows. While stuck at home, Hollye and her husband decided to make a "destination dinner" for their son. "Don't come out of your room until dinner," they told him, then transformed their living space into Times Square. They repurposed basement supplies into skyscrapers and landmarks, made a New York playlist, and ordered pizza repackaged with a famous Manhattan pizzeria label. When their son emerged, his sullen face lit up in disbelief. His true personality emerged as they enjoyed feeling transported to their destination. They sang, played games, and delighted in the wonder of an evening away. At night's end, her son asked, "Okay, where are we going tomorrow night?" This launched the family on a journey to over forty destination dinners. For each weekend festivity, they spent days preparing props, menus, and activities based on locations worldwide—creating everything from materials around the house. "I don't know how we would have gotten through the quarantine without our destination dinners," Hollye said. In times of isolation and difficulty, gifting wonder to others becomes not just a creative act but a profound form of connection and healing. By deliberately creating experiences that evoke surprise, delight, and possibility for others, we simultaneously reawaken our own capacity for wonder.

Summary

Wonder is the singular experience that, for a fleeting moment, disrupts our awareness and dissolves our biases so we may see again what is real and true, beautiful and possible. Through the stories of everyday people and renowned artists alike—from engineers creating life-saving medical equipment to musicians recovering from devastating loss—we've seen how wonder's six facets work together to transform our approach to creativity, relationships, and resilience. Whether through Cristian Fracassi's openness to possibility during crisis, Tracy Fullerton's journey through bewilderment to create something unprecedented, or the Dexter family's gift of wonder during isolation, we witness the profound impact of these seemingly fleeting experiences. The path to reclaiming wonder begins with recognizing your young genius—that force of character uniquely yours since childhood—and extends to gifting wonder to others. In a world obsessed with productivity and certainty, tracking wonder offers a radical alternative that doesn't reject achievement but transforms how we pursue it. By practicing openness in the face of cynicism, feeling rather than fleeing confusion, finding hope amid adversity, and creating connections across differences, we awaken to the extraordinary possibilities hiding within ordinary moments. As Nick Cave discovered after tragedy, the way back to our center often requires drawing ourselves toward wonder, where "the color comes back to things with a renewed intensity and the world seems clear and bright and new." This journey isn't about escaping reality but about seeing it more fully—with all its complexity, beauty, and potential for transformation.

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Jeffrey Davis

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