WonderWorks, LLC

The wonder of the season - what if it’s not just something we see, but something we practice?

Not a catchphrase or sentiment. A daily discipline.

This week: light through our prism landed here. “A Great Day in Harlem.” Last thing off the wall, first thing up, every move we’ve made.

57 jazz musicians. One Harlem stoop. 1958.

I’ve looked at this photo thousands of times. But the rainbow stopped me in my tracks - and gave me an opportunity to appreciate it even more. The deep joy and awe I feel whenever I look at this image. The history. These musicians. All that creative genius, in one frame.

That’s what wonder does. It lets you revisit what was always there - but sometimes less visible to your own hurried eyes.

I didn’t plan this moment. But I caught it - because I’ve spent years strengthening my ability to notice everyday wonder. The more you practice, the more available it becomes.

Not just for photographs. For creativity. For solving hard problems. For reconnecting to what actually matters when everything feels urgent.

Walking into Whole Foods yesterday, I spotted four words on a bright green T-shirt:

“The wonder of light.”

Simple. Profound.

But if we only stop there, we miss the fuller story.

Real wonder isn’t just about light and positivity. It lives in the interplay between light and shadow.

Just as I was thinking this, another moment arrived...

Walking past the berries, I noticed a man with his phone’s flashlight accidentally on in his back pocket. A bright beam swept across the strawberries and raspberries as he moved - completely unaware.

The light was almost piercing, disruptive, impossible to ignore. And I found myself watching in quiet awe.

Two encounters with “light” in sixty seconds. The pattern felt meaningful.

It’s the contrast that reveals clarity and truth.

In leadership, our hardest moments are full of this contrast. The real work isn’t choosing light over shadow - it’s learning to hold both together.

Research shows that awe and wonder expands our ability to hold contrasting perspectives simultaneously.

Not either/or thinking. But both/and.

That’s where wonder - and breakthrough clarity - live.