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On living in wonderment
Hello, and welcome.
If you’re new here, this is a good place to begin.
5840 Sunrises is a newsletter about wonder — not as a feeling we wait for, but as a remembering and returning in the ordinary moments of everyday.
The name comes from a fact that stopped me in my tracks: aboard the International Space Station, astronauts witness 16 sunrises and sunsets in every 24 hour period. 5840 sunrises and sunsets in a year. I’ve been sitting with this fact and wondering… What would it do to a person to witness that much beauty in a single day? Would wonder become ordinary? Or would one become more alive to it?
I don’t know. I’m here to find out.
Most of what I write takes the form of wonder letters — personal essays written as letters to my son Kabir, who is four years old and knows things about noticing that I am now re-learning. Because I believe that we are all born with a knowing to be in complete wonderment with the world. And as we grow up, we forget.
While these letters are addressed to him, they are really about being human. About what it means to stay awake to our lives.
You’re welcome to read them as letters to someone you love. Or to yourself.
The rhythm
🌑 On each new moon, I share a short reflection — an invitation to sit with a particular theme of wonder.
🌕 On each full moon, I share a wonder letter — a personal essay exploring that theme from the inside.
Together they form a growing body of work on what it means to pay attention. They’re not meant to be read in order. Come in anywhere. Stay as long as you like.
Where to begin
If you want to understand what this is all about, start with the first new moon letter: The Layers of Wonder.
If you’re not sure, here are a few suggestions:
Star Gazers
Slowing Down
I will lose everything
I’m glad you’re here.
In wonderment with you,
Suprita