Wondering about WONDER
Living gratefully today, I appreciate the ways my five senses and my mind, heart, soul and physical being are able to take in and process so many varied experiences throughout a day.
WONDER. I wonder about so many things. Wonder brings freshness, new perspectives, gratefulness. For many of my years, I was too stuck in detrimental thought patterns and rigid daily habits that crowded out wonder. That means awe, grace, and presence were also being crowded out.
When my friend Laurel sent me this year’s “word for the year,” I smiled when I opened the envelope and read my word: WONDER. It’s a random selection, but it always is a word that I need and that helps me transform. Thanks Laurel!
So here we are midway through 2022 already. I don’t wonder about wonder every day. I don’t seek it or notice it every day. But I sit here this morning, writing and reflecting, able to wholeheartedly say that it is more readily available to me and not buried under so much mental and emotional detritus anymore. My fifties, also known as my midlife muck and mire, started out as something of a minefield and have become more a proving ground. Complacency, grief, cynicism, menopause have all played a part. Thankfully, so has wonder and living gratefully and hard work.
I sit here today, sharing this little list of wonders. There is a touch of joy and stillness within each. I wonder . . .
*Why some squirrels take off at the slightest human encroachment and others stand still and watch me for a bit?
*How every sunrise and sunset can be so unique, how every human is one of a kind?
*How time passes so quickly? The other day marked 14 years since my first of three breast cancer surgeries.
*How come dogs know to naturally stretch in the morning and after getting up from a nap, but that many humans forget?
*How does our skin feel so much? That’s a lot of nerves and neurotransmitters at work.
*At the awesomeness of our brains and bodies. How does our body know where to go to start the healing process? Blood cells and neurotransmitters talking amongst themselves and each other. What an orchestra!
*Why some people think that once we reach a certain age or time in our lives we are done changing? Or that there are certain negative patterns and habits that can never be broken? If we are breathing, we are changing. If we are living with attention and intention, we can still alter the course of our days and lives.
*How come bees are so attracted to Russian sage and that they are busy before 6:00 a.m?
The more I surrender to wonder, the more it comes. WOW! Wow! wow . . . Have a wonderful day!
