What a Poet Taught Me About Wonder (Hint: It's Not What You Think)

Evelyn Reed · 2026-11-07

I used to think wonder was something you had to chase. You know the feeling—you go to a mountaintop, watch a sunset, and wait for that rush of awe to hit you. But the more I talk to people who live with genuine curiosity, the more I suspect wonder works the other way around. It finds you when you slow down long enough to notice what's already there. That's the heart of a conversation I keep coming back to, featuring poet Maya C. Popa. She writes about attention, uncertainty, and the quiet art of staying curious. And honestly? Her ideas apply just as much to your morning commute as they do to a poem. ### Attention Is the Whole Game Popa's take is refreshingly simple: wonder isn't a feeling you manufacture. It's what happens when you actually pay attention. Not the scattered, half-there attention most of us give our phones, our inboxes, our to-do lists—but the kind where you look at one thing fully. Think about the last time you really looked at something. A leaf. A friend's face while they were talking. The way steam curls off a cup of coffee. That's where wonder lives. It's not exotic. It's just easily missed. Here's the practical takeaway: pick one ordinary thing today and give it your full attention for sixty seconds. No phone. No multitasking. Just looking. You might be surprised how much shows up. ### Uncertainty Isn't the Enemy Most of us treat not-knowing as a problem to solve as fast as possible. Popa flips that. She suggests uncertainty is where curiosity actually breathes. If you already know everything, there's nothing left to be curious about. That's a big shift for anyone who likes to feel in control. But it's also freeing. You don't have to have it all figured out to be present. You just have to stay open. > "Wonder is not the reward for paying attention. It's what attention feels like from the inside." That line stuck with me. It reframes the whole thing. You're not waiting for a payoff. The noticing itself is the point. ### Staying Curious When Life Feels Routine Here's where it gets practical. Most of us aren't living in a poem. We're living in a rhythm of work, errands, and the same six dinners on rotation. So how do you keep curiosity alive in the middle of that? A few small habits that help: - Ask one genuine question a day, and actually listen to the answer. - Notice one thing you'd normally walk past—a crack in the sidewalk, a stranger's laugh, the sound of rain on a window. - Let yourself be a beginner at something, even something tiny. Try a new route home. Cook a recipe you've never made. - Write down one thing that surprised you each evening. It trains your brain to look for surprise. None of this is dramatic. That's the point. Wonder isn't reserved for mountaintops. It's available on a Tuesday afternoon at the kitchen table, if you're willing to slow down enough to catch it. ### The Takeaway If there's one thing to carry from Popa's perspective, it's this: wonder is a practice, not a personality trait. It's built through attention, fed by uncertainty, and kept alive by small, ordinary choices. You don't need a special occasion. You just need to show up and look. So here's my challenge for you this week. Pick one thing. Look at it longer than feels comfortable. See what happens. You might just find that wonder was waiting there the whole time, quietly, for you to notice.