When was the last time you experienced something or someplace that filled you with wonder?
That sense of delight, happiness, admiration, and awe that truly wonderful things inspire can feel elusive at times. It can be tough to feel this as we go through the motions and experience the monotony of our set routines. Sometimes, it takes the act of stepping outside of our “normal” to help reignite our search for the wondrous–so here’s our reset.

Source: Manish Prabhune // Flickr
On this Saturday Around the World, you won’t have to buy a plane ticket to see some of the most wonderful places on the planet. With the help of this marvelous piece from Great Big Story, we will travel to them together in a video that will be the most interesting 11 minutes of your day! (The video covers 5 very different places, so don’t drop out after you’ve seen only the first!)
From unique homes that are their own oases, to parks full of absurdity and whimsy, here are a few wonderous places that are a beautiful reminder that it’s still an amazing world!
Feeling a little more inspired?
There is something marvelous about the strange, the wonderful, and the completely out of the ordinary. They remind us that fun, surprise, and delight are emotions that are important to nurture. Moreover, these experiences are a wonderful “reset” to our worldview.
Will our day to day tasks seem monotonous at times? Yes.
But we can always choose to find the moments that make them wonderful.
This wonder is all around us–in art, the natural world, and especially in the people we meet. When we allow ourselves to be inspired and acknowledge that sense, we are reminded, even in the most troubling times, that happiness is not an elusive force.
To leave you today, we encourage you to check out either of the articles above, they are some of our favorite pieces filled with the people making the world a little more wonderful for us all!
Oh, and if you are a long time Ever Widening Circles reader, you may have recognized Slava, the clown, from an article we published last year! He has an amazing story that’s worth a listen. Check it out below!
Stay beautiful & keep laughing!
-Liesl
Want to see more wonderful things?
Head over to our full Saturday’s Around the World archive to take a tour of some of the most extraordinary places and cultures on the planet!
Notes:
- “Adventures in Real Life Wonderlands.” YouTube. Great Big Story, 16 Sept. 2017. Web. 26 Jan. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqprQjGSDMM>. ↩