Unlocking the Secret Power of Awe: How Wonder Transforms Trauma into Healing
That said, if it is pure memoir you seek, the memoir section is just about a third of the book, and the stories from others are more profile than memoir. More integration between the disparate parts could have carried this fully into memoir territory, but it’s important to remember the intent is really different here. The memoir serves to inform us, like the profiles and all the science, about how wonder shrinks the self, quieting the negative chatter accompanying trauma.
Thus, “We are better able to attune to one another in the moment,” and even fleeting experiences of awe and wonder can calm us down, improve a sense of well-being and urge us to behave in ways that are more prosocial. It’s an interesting, unique, and valuable take on wonder, dragging it out of the realm of the strictly private and into our interpersonal relationships.
