⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

🚪 Where Wonder Went: Introducing my new podcast. In episode 1 I explore the 5 forces erasing wonder from your world. Listen here.

⏳ How To Alter The Passage Of Time To Feel Fast Or Slow: Knowing the psychology behind why moments drag or whizz by can give you a degree of control over your experience of time. Read it here.

📝 7 Journaling Prompts to Overcome Perfectionism: Psychologist and coach Nick Wignall shares seven of his favorite journaling prompts and reflections questions to overcome perfectionism. Read it here.

🎇 Image of The Week

Today’s issue marks five years of writing this newsletter. In all that time, the Image of the Week has never featured a personal photo from my own life. It feels fitting that today it does. Coincidentally, the first edition of this newsletter was sent on the day my grandmother died—September 30, 2020. So, on the day after the five-year anniversary of her passing, I wanted to share this picture of her on her 100th birthday. She left this world just 40 days shy of what would have been her 103rd.

Most weeks I choose images that reconnect us with the beauty of life. For me, this image does exactly that. She was one of the rare people I’ve known who stirred a deep sense of awe in me. She loved me deeply, and I loved her. Today I pause to remember her and to reflect on the lasting impact she has had on my life.

 🚪 Where Wonder Went

As mentioned above, today marks five years of Down the Rabbit Hole with 262 editions. 🎉

Writing this newsletter week after week has proven to me how dedicated I am to rekindling our shared sense of wonder. You do not keep something going for five years unless it matters deeply, and this project really matters to me.

Now I am ready to take the next step. That is why I am launching a podcast called Where Wonder Went. It will explore why wonder has faded from our daily lives and, more importantly, how we can bring it back. Some episodes will be me speaking solo, going on wild tangents on concepts at the edge of my thinking. Others will feature conversations with people who have something meaningful to share, along with Q&As where I answer questions from you, the readers of Down the Rabbit Hole.

The newsletter has been a great exercise in curating bounties of wonderful things, and I believe the podcast will allow me to go deeper and expand on the notes, themes, and nuggets of goodness we have explored here.

The first episode is titled The Five Forces Erasing Wonder From Your World. I would be delighted if you gave it a listen and let me know what you think. Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or listen directly on the Website.

🌱 Soul Seeds

Consider these words from the great Thomas Merton:

🤓 Learn This Word

Matrescence: The process of becoming (and coming to inhabit the role of) a mother

🕸️ From Around The Web

Life Without Challenges Is an Early Death

“I was re-reading Seneca’s On Providence this morning. I’ve read it a bunch of times before, but it hit hard again.

Every time I feel complacent or start complaining too much, I go back to the Stoics. They remind me of something I’ve always felt: Hardship is good.

Most people think happiness comes from comfort. From eliminating struggle. From making life as easy as possible.

But comfort is overrated. Life without challenges is not life at all. It’s an early death.”

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