If you have been following Bliss Habits for any length of time then you have certainly been introduced to the wonder and grace that is Lisa Wilson. Visiting from the marvelous LifeUnity, Lisa has been a guest of Bliss Habits several times over. Every time it is a complete treat. I’m sure you will agree, today is no different! Please enjoy!
WONDER : To think or speculate curiously.
The ability to see the miraculous and remarkable in everything.
“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One
must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Imagine.
…Waking up in the morning and your first thoughts being of the remarkable day that lay ahead.
…Walking over to the piles of papers and bills and dishes and see them as miraculous.
It might sound a bit far-fetched, a little bit too happy-go-lucky. But let us not stop at our cynicism. Let’s continue to wonder, to “speculate curiously” on what might be.
We all have this thing called “real life” – that thing to which we will return once we’re done reading this.
I have a banana peel to pick up, a dog to let outside, and, as I write this, two children who apparently need a bit more coercing to actually fall asleep.
It’s easy to drift into a well written blog post, a delicious book, or a vibrant movie and be carried off into that sense of wonder. I can think of countless times that I’ve read or watched something and felt ready to conquer the world. (Many of the posts here at Bliss Habits tend to do that for me.) We are invited into possibility and temporarily lose our fear and cynicism of the impossible. We dream, think, and believe.
And then the oven timer goes off and we slip back into simply existing.
We have the capability to exist in wonder. The question is, do we choose to?
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle;
you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
~Albert Einstein
Ah…to live outside of judgment – of ourselves and our emotions, of others and their beliefs. To exist in this world with constant wonder…
To wonder about the flower, the rude waiter, the day, the soap bubble, the way your foot kisses the floor, the air that blows from your car’s vent, the space between the letters you read on the computer screen. To do so without labeling it right or wrong or good or bad…but just to be curious about the experience….
Is it possible to exist into a state of being where everything is always a curious exploration instead of a chase towards a goal or a drudgery from one chore to the next? Is this a practice worth doing? Is it even possible to infuse our “real life” with constant awareness of the miracle of living?
I wonder….
Thank you to Kathy for letting me chime in on this fascinating topic!
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Lisa Renee Wilson is An Awareness Artist, inviting everyone into a mindful experience of this moment. From doing the dishes to dancing barefoot in the summer rain, Lisa journeys alongside those who long to LIVE. Lisa writes at LifeUnity.com, creates, and offers art as Mindfulness Reminders and Awareness Invitations. She currently leads a Free mindfulness project (learn more at www.lifeunity.com/wild-elephant-project), with more classes coming soon. Lisa is also a yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner, as well as a “Buddhist-dabbler”. She is blessed to practice out of Bloomington, IN while accompanied by a loving husband, two young children, and an iced chai never far from hand.
www.LifeUnity.com | Facebook : www.facebook.com/lifeunity | Twitter : www.twitter.com/lifeunity
there is tremendous joy in the world of “wonder”. The photograph of the children “wondering” about the rotary dial telephone…children allow themselves to “wonder”…and at some point as we leave childhood we stop ourselves from “wondering”. I wonder why we do that! As adults we have to recondition ourselves to allow wonder to simply happen…well worth the effort!
I wonder why too, Sherry! Isn’t it fascinating how we somehow lose our ability to explore? I completely agree it is worth the effort, so here’s to the practice – starting now! 🙂
A perfect post! Thank you, Lisa. There is such joy in your writing and you always give such food for thought.