The Wonder of You

Have you ever noticed the way a child will become engrossed with something small...a rock, a snail, a leaf? Time can dissolve for them as they play and wonder about their world.

One of my favourite songs is Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World', and there have been many times in the last 7 years where I have felt deeply aware of the incongruity of loving that song and my lack of joy and wonder of the world around me.

This year I have rediscovered the power of a sense of wonder and it has taken me deeper than being a child studying a pebble. I have wondered about many things and that has had a powerful transformation in every area of my life:

Observation: My body refuses to go on the way it was....

Wonder: I wonder what happens if I sit with this and allow this process to take place? I wonder what my body is trying to tell me? I wonder what will happen if I listen to it?

Observation: My friend doesn't seem to listen to me...

Wonder: I wonder how I can communicate more effectively? I wonder what I am withholding from her and why? I wonder what she needs from me to feel safe to be open with me ?

Observation: I feel such grief....

Wonder: I wonder what happens if I allow myself feel this deeply? Will I survive it and I wonder what will happen if I do come through it instead of squashing it?

Observation: I don't have a career anymore....

Wonder: There is now so much space in my life, I wonder what will fill it if I let the process unfold organically? I wonder what I'd love to do with my time? I wonder what enraptures me and makes time dissolve?

Observation: I am alone....

Wonder:  I wonder if I am in someway committed to being alone? I wonder what else I am committed to? I wonder what would happen if I made a commitment to developing more close relationships? I wonder if I could commit to being married?

A sense of wonder can transform relationships...instead of defence and blame....we can wonder how we can facilitate deeper more fulfilled communication and intimacy. We can use wonder to take responsibility: I wonder what part I played in creating this situation? I wonder what I am withholding and why?

When I allowed myself to sit with being in a dark place, it was a sense of wonder that kept me company, instead of fighting I surrendered and it was a sense of wonder that brought me out of it. I started to dream about what I really wanted in my life and now I let those desires guide me. The wonder has brought me in touch with my spirit again and what gave me joy and wonder as a child now fulfils me as an adult.

This wonder has brought an innocence back to the way I see the world, a sense of childlike trust in what happens to me and a wonder at what I can learn from it. It's taught me to go with the flow of life, its ups and downs, its ugliness and its beauty.

It truly is a wonderful world.