Do you take supplements to keep your brain sharp as you age? Lion’s mane, omega-3s, maybe some B vitamins? I imagine many of us do.
But how many of us regularly practice stepping into someone else’s shoes, changing our mind when presented with new information, or exploring a familiar environment with fresh eyes? I imagine fewer of us will answer yes to this.
We’re being sold a lot of pills and powders promising to keep our brains sharp. But here’s what the influencers don’t tell you: mental vitality isn’t just about what we put in our brains, it’s about what we do with our minds. It’s using intention, attention, and attitude to cultivate a mind that is fertile, alive, and engaged.
When we think about vitality, we often focus on the body… energy, stamina, flexibility. But vitality shows up just as powerfully in the mind: as mental energy, cognitive flexibility, and the capacity to stay engaged with life. Two of the most potent nutrients for this kind of mental aliveness? Curiosity and wonder.
Curiosity keeps you flexible. It interrupts certainty, softens rigid stories, and invites better questions. When curiosity is active, your mind shifts from judgment to exploration. Your world expands. Curiosity supports a growth mindset and keeps you metabolizing change rather than resisting it. It opens the door to innovation, creativity, and possibility. In relationships, it enhances vitality and connection. In a world trying to divide us, curiosity opens dialogue and deepens understanding.
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. ~ Rumi
Wonder goes deeper. It’s the felt experience of ‘wow’! …those moments when something larger, even mysterious or magical, breaks through and the heart is touched. Research shows wonder reduces stress, quiets the ruminating mind, and increases meaning and belonging. It is powerfully motivating and enriching.
Wonder and Curiosity in Action: A Wonder Walk at the Ranch
During our Vital Signs workshop at MEA in New Mexico, we went on a wonder walk with Mary Oliver’s instruction: “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” After meandering through the desert landscape, Sara shared her moment of ‘wow’!
She felt how the dry packed earth had formed a firm crust but was soft underneath, yielding to her footsteps. As she walked along the arroyo, she noticed other footprints beside hers — coyote paw, ant trails, rabbit tracks, horse hooves. She felt wonder and a kinship with all the creatures who had walked this land, as well as the many humans over hundreds of years who explored this part of the planet.
Later, MEA’s resident cowboy Lee Johnson shared that hoof prints in the soil catch precious rainwater, preventing runoff and nourishing the life waiting underground. The earth benefits tremendously by letting itself take the shape of the life that moves on it.
Sara’s wonder transformed into wisdom: there were places in her life where she was rigid and opinionated, not yielding as the soil was. She wondered what it would be like to allow her mind to be receptive to the life interacting with her — just as the soil was. She set an intention to ask questions before giving her opinion, especially in conversations where she might disagree. And to go on more wonder walks and listen to the wisdom of nature.
Curiosity and Wonder as AI: Aliveness Indicators
Together, curiosity and wonder are antidotes to stagnation. They keep your inner life spacious and dynamic, help you stay in relationship with uncertainty, and reawaken vitality that isn’t narrowly defined by a youthful body.
Cultivating curiosity and wonder isn’t just nice-to-have. They are essential metrics of vitality that need tending in a modern world where our minds are being shaped and dulled by algorithms and everything artificial.
If you’re curious about how to cultivate these macronutrients of vitality, join us at Rising Circle Ranch April 16-19 for Vital Signs: Where You Truly Come Alive, where mental vitality is one of the six Vital Signs we’ll experientially explore.
-Lori
Lori Schwanbeck, MFT is a psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher, and workshop facilitator whose work bridges neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and nature-based wisdom. She founded Mindfulness Therapy Associates and serves as core faculty at the Modern Elder Academy, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, Esalen Institute, and Awake in the Wild. Her latest program, Vital Signs, invites a shift from tracking performance metrics to sensing aliveness and meaning—measuring what truly matters as we age. She feels most alive in the presence of people opening their hearts and minds.