Sometimes I wonder why I feel a sense of newness, and wonder even when the object of my wonderment is something I knew about. What I mean is, you can still feel surprised or wonderstruck at something that is not entirely beyond the realm of your knowledge. Celestial events, for example. When you see a shooting star or a solar flare-induced burst of Northern Lights, you are filled with surprise and wonder despite knowing about such occurrences.

The capacity we have as human beings to continue to feel elated, surprised and wonderstruck several times over, is because we remain in awe of anything beyond our control and a bit overwhelming. So much for good and beautiful things that inspire and regale us.

Shock and awe are also feelings that occur repeatedly in negative situations, especially when these are related to human behaviour, like rudeness, ingratitude and cruelty. That's because even if we've previously experienced a person's rudeness, ingratitude or cruelty, the next time, our innate faith in humanity does not allow us to expect a repeat of that treatment. We tend to think of it as being in the past. When history repeats itself, we feel shocked and violated. When this happens with close relatives and/or friends, it does leave one feeling pained and sad. Yet, these feelings too evaporate with time and the cycle repeats itself.