What was the last thing you did with a purposeful sense of "childlike wonder"?

Going to a fair. My family was against it because it was too expensive and there might be a chance that the fair was poorly organized. Even I myself doubted it as I’ve been to many bad fairs before. But I still gave it a try. And the fair turned out better than I thought. It was generally well-organized, with a lot of friendly and helpful people. I found myself back at my childlike mindset, when I was still unbiased about anything like that. And I was “inexperienced” as I found so many new things from the fair I had never known before.

A “purposeful sense of childlike wonder” sounds like an oxymoron to me. I think it’s either there or it’s not. For me, it sometimes come when I am in a place or a country for the first time.

The thing about “childlike wonder” in children is that it’s not “purposeful” — it comes along with their innocence. The don’t choose to see the the world that way. They just do.

As adults, we have lost that innocence and therefore cannot force it back into existence.

It’s a bullshit question basically.

Go scuba diving. I was nervous and so excited. I didn’t know what to expect but it was just an awesome feeling. I felt like a little kid inside but on the outside I tried to play it cool.
Oh, wait. I suppose shoot a real gun for the first time at a gun range last weekend. Turns out I’m a natural. Hit the bulls eye on the second shot once I got that first kick back out of the way. I shot the bulls eye so many times I took out the whole bulls eye.
My instructor was very good.. My husband kept calling me Annie Oakley / Clint Eastwood and was hoping to change my mind about getting a gun but turns out he’s ok with us just going to the gun range.
It actually was fun both times discovering that I could do something for the first time and do it well.
Is that what you meant?

@Pandora that is what I mean and awesome job…. I heard statistically speaking women do better the first couple of times aiming and hitting a target and having a tighter pattern. Because we try harder.

And I see @janbb and the following pointing at the apparent oxymoron. I had reservations however going at an activity with the intention to notice things – to delight and be delighted. To smell, taste, see, to hear, to fully engage all that the experience has to offer. Then – just fully immerse myself in it.

After coming out of a medical building for a routine test I passed some patches of wheat. The grass was a rich green and the wheat a lovely golden brown. I just had to run my hands through them over and over. The wheat was so soft. I didn’t stay too long for fear people would think I was a loon. But it felt so nice. I imagined how it would feel walking through a field like that.

Watching the clouds and the cattails earlier while bbq-ing. It was brilliant.

@anniereborn thanks for sharing that it reminded me of the time I was in new mexico for treatment and I just went driving and there was this green field and thousands of softly hued yellow butterflies I had to pull over and walk through and with them and it felt like I was in this healing realm and the butterflies were ethereal and surreal and felt like a promise.

And Grumpy that doesn’t sound grumpy at all. I have pictures of clouds they are so fun.

I get that feeling every time I play with the wife’s tits, or even see them, actually, whenever I spot a decent cleavage.

I’m not sure about ‘purposefully’ but I’m very in touch with my inner child. I went to the Harry Potter exhibition in London and loved it. I was so excited about going there. I’m also currently reading all the books (I’ve seen the films).

Awesome @ucme love when I hear males still happy with their monogamous partner and still delighting in their body!

@Earthbound_Misfit Never grow up in every way we can

Everytime I look at a bird, I do not see a bird, I see a Dinosaur.

First, while I agree that wonder isn’t something we purposefully evoke, we can purposefully gather our attention and open ourselves up to experience. Wonder flows naturally from that.

I recently took a plane trip. Flying isn’t a novelty for me by any means. It would be very easy to simply endure the experience, anesthetizing the ennui with the free wifi, as virtually everyone seemed to be doing.

Instead, I purposefully woke my attention up to the amazing experience of hurtling through space in an aluminum tube, rubbing elbows with clouds, and losing my tiny self in all of that immensity.

On one hand, I think, “How can someone be dead to something as amazing as this?”, but then I have to admit that there is plenty in my life that is no less wondrous than this, but that I have allowed myself to go to sleep to. Staying awake is a purposeful endeavor.

I got an impromptu tour of a radio station. I got to go inside the transmitter and crawl around with the equipment. Everything was huge – it has to be to handle the high power. I could feel heat and see the glowing components. Fantastic.

Pretty much every time I’m with my grandkids that are less than 8. Everything they do just takes me back.

Drop acid.

I do this frequently. Maybe I’m not very mature.

Two nights ago it was a beautiful sunset and then the Blue Moon hung low in the sky as I was driving home. It was so beautiful I pulled my car over, opened my sunroof and just savored the night sky for a while.

Just about an hour ago.
Hot and smokey here in the northern Ca. hills with 21 fires burning statewide., Ugh…a living hell right now. I have a dishpan full of water on the deck where I soak my feet and do pedicures and there was a little tree frog hanging on the side of the tub, half submerged in the water a bit ago.

I was so happy to see him/her find some relief from the heat and haze that I added a couple of house plants to the tub to create a nice little jungle scene and a nice environment for the little dude. Happy frog habitat. :-)

Held a frog

It’s a frog enlightenment night apparently. lol

LSD induces childlike wonder, that is one of the major draws to it.

@Silence04 Yes, but if you do it too much your IQ will revert to that of a 4 year old. lol