LIFESTYLE OUT OF MY MIND
Restoring a Sense of Wonder and Mystery BY PHILIP CHARD
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’m mourning the loss of wonder, of mystery,” Peter told me, hands folded, eyes down.
A vacancy tinged with sadness inhabited his gaze. With almost 70 years on the planet, this man had lived a full life, one populated with purpose and goodness. But as he made his way through his 60s, his outlook soured. Not because some awful event or condition took him hostage, but due to his increasing sensitivity to what’s broken in our species and how we treat each other and the planet. Peter is a “highly sensitive person,” belonging to a subset of our population who feel more deeply than the norm, whatever that is. 64 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
They are highly empathic and tuned in to emotions and states of mind in others; a capacity that proves both a blessing and a curse. It becomes a curse when they lock on to pain in others, as well as the collective emotional tone of their community, be that local, national, global or the entirety. Over time, this can create what psychologists call a “negative cognitive bias.” The brain becomes accustomed to scanning for what’s wrong, unfair, frightening and hurtful, while overlooking or discounting what’s right, just and good. Unless facile in self-care and emotional healing, these folks gradually but inexorably accumulate
the weight of the sorrow, angst and tragedy they absorb from the world. Peter was such a soul. “As a kid, I was full of wonder and curiosity,” he told me. “Especially anything to do with nature, like astronomy, biology, the microscopic world and the sciences in general. They connected me with the mystery of it all.”
SENSE OF AWE Peter’s longing to explore what eludes our cognitive grasp was a powerful force shaping his personality. He described how his fascination with the physical world seemed to whisper to him through his
Illustration by Benjavisa/Getty Images.
