More Awe & Wonder!

After sending last week's message about Awe & Wonder, I kept running across other writings about the same topic! It's kind of funny how it seems like that happens - a lesson I need to learn keeps coming across my path!

Rather than use my own words again, I wanted to share some powerful words from author Cole Arthur Riley, from their work, This Here Flesh*.

I think awe is an exercise, both a doing and a being. It is a spiritual muscle of our humanity that we can only keep from atrophying if we exercise it habitually. I sit in the clearing behind [my home] listening to the song of the barn swallows mix with the sound of cars speeding by. I watch the milk current through my tea and the little leaves dance free from their pouch. I linger in the mirror and I don’t look away. I trace the shadows hugging my lips and I don’t look away. Awe is not a lens through which to see the world but our sole path to seeing. Any other lens is not a lens but a veil. And I’ve come to believe that our beholding—seeing the veils of this world peeled back again and again, if only for a moment—is no small form of salvation.

When I speak of wonder, I mean the practice of beholding the beautiful. Beholding the majestic—the snow-capped Himalayas, the sun setting on the sea—but also the perfectly mundane—that soap bubble reflecting your kitchen, the oxidized underbelly of that stainless steel pan. More than the grand beauties of our lives, wonder is about having the presence to pay attention to the commonplace. It could be said that to find beauty in the ordinary is a deeper exercise than climbing to the mountaintop….

Wonder includes the capacity to be in awe of humanity, even your own. It allows us to jettison the dangerous belief that things worthy of wonder can only be located on nature hikes and scenic overlooks. This can distract us from the beauty flowing through us daily. For every second that our organs and bones sustain us is a miracle. When those bones heal, when our wounds scab over, this is our call to marvel at our bodies—their regeneration, their stability or frailty. This grows our sense of dignity. To be able to marvel at the face of our neighbor with the same awe we have for the mountaintop, the sunlight refracting—this manner of vision is what will keep us from destroying each other….

Wonder requires a person not to forget themselves but to feel themselves so acutely that their connectedness to every created thing comes into focus. In sacred awe, we are a part of the story.

See why I wanted to share this with you?!  Powerful words!

I'll wrap up by asking the same questions from last week. How could you invite a little more awe and wonder in your life this week?  What impact might that make on your life and outlook?  

Here's to embracing some more awe and wonder this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

*Cole Arthur Riley, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us (New York: Convergent, 2022), 31–32, 36, 37.

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Awe & Wonder!

I've recently been thinking about awe and wonder in our lives. I know that one of the reasons for this is because I have my first grandchild in my life, and it is so fun to just watch them as they take in everything around them! But I also think it may be related to the holiday season we are currently in.

Over the weekend we took time to put up our decorations, which include a bunch of outside lights on our house. Because of how we like to decorate, this is a pretty tedious and involved process. We also added a few new, small lighted trees to our outside lights this year, so we had to figure out where to put them. I got everything else done and was placing those trees as the last step. It took several tries to figure out exactly where we wanted them, and I must confess, by the time I was all the way done, I was more interested in just being done than I was appreciating the beauty of the lights! I didn't really have any sense of awe and wonder, but was consumed by my simple desire to just be finished.

After some rest and reflection though, I think I want to be more like my grandchild and welcome more awe and wonder in my life. I want to be more intentional about driving around town and appreciating the beauty of the lights, the joy of the music, the simplicity of seeing the world like it's new again.

Here's why - if I'm trying to be mindful of moments of awe and wonder, I think it will help me slow down and appreciate some of the simple beauty of the world around me. And when I do, I also think it will have a positive impact on my overall attitude and even my ability to appreciate others. I think it will give me a small boost to my soul, so that I'm not so focused on just getting the tasks done, but can open my eyes and heart up just a little more to the wonder of the world around me!

How could you invite a little more awe and wonder in your life this week? What impact might that make on your life and outlook?

Here's to embracing a some awe and wonder this week!

Be Well, Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

More We, Less They

I was recently listening to a wisdom teacher on a podcast who used a phrase I found very interesting which also connects back to my recent messages on Powerful Agreements and Gardens of Kindness & Compassion.  They said, "It's important that we take time to reflect on some key questions in our lives. Two powerful ones are 'Who are we?' and 'Who are they?' I find that much of our maturing work in life is learning how to move whoever is in the 'They' category into the 'We' category." 

That has really got me thinking deeply about a number of things.

Who are We?

Most of the time when I answer this question for myself, I tend to start with the groups who are similar to me in some way (race, religion, culture, family, etc.), and who I feel the most comfortable with in my life (my family, my political party, my religion, my cultural heritage, etc.).  Truthfully, having these types of identifying markers isn't all bad.  They help me better understand myself and my world.

Who are They?

When I shift my attention to this group, it often starts with everyone who isn't in the "We" group.  Basically, everyone else that I don't naturally identify with in my life. Again, having characteristics that acknowledge distinctives and differences between groups isn't all bad because they can also help me better understand myself and my world.

Our Tendency

I believe part of what this wisdom teacher was trying to illustrate is that our tendency is for the "We" group to get smaller and smaller, while "They" gets larger.  It's just so easy for us to become so focused on the differences between us, that those distinctives no longer become helpful to understanding ourselves and our world better.  When I am paying more attention to the distinctives that separate us and my "We" group gets too small, it can actually become like an echo-chamber that just resonates and reverberates back our same messages and understandings over and over again.  

Our Work

Instead, what this teacher was calling for was learning how to expand our "We" to make it larger, thereby decreasing the size of who "They" are. If I can continue to open myself up to learning more about "Them," I begin to discover that while differences still exist, there is actually more that unites us than separates us. Expanding who "We" are doesn't eliminate our distinctives, but instead celebrates the beauty of the diversity of who "We" are in the world.  It's like going from watching TV in black and white to color (old school reference there!).

When was the last time you asked, "Who are We?" and "Who are They?" Which direction do you think your circles are expanding and decreasing?  Is there a situation in your life right now (work, family, leadership, etc.) in which you are paying more attention to the differences between "Us" and "Them?"  What would it take in that situation for you to mature in your understandings in a way that allows an expansion of who "We" are?  

Here's to growing this week so we have more "We" and less "They" in our lives!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.