The world is a wonderful place. If that is not your experience lately, then you may have disconnected from all that wonder out of fear, disappointment, or discouragement. Yet, the wonder is still there. Want proof?
For one day, disconnect from all that is painful, hurtful, negative, cynical, and unkind. Unplug from all that you don’t want to be true about the world. Unplug from outside sources so you won’t inadvertently hear or see that which runs contrary to the magnificence you are about to experience. :-)
Do not watch the news or tv, do not check your email or online news sources, and do not use social media. Unplug from what everyone else is doing, thinking, and feeling. Note: this is not being selfish, it’s about self-care.
Start noticing the wonder around you, for example, how your pet does nothing better than be the life form it is, happy to share that life with you. Spend some time with this and simply be aware and interact with your animal companion throughout the day, recognizing that its uniqueness is the same for you.
Notice the plants in your home or those in your yard and wonder how they manage to get enough nutrients from the soil, water, air, and sun to grow into the life they have become. Touch your house- or yard plants. Water them. Clear out what they have discarded. Be grateful for the contribution of all these growing things in your world as you go about your day.
Notice and appreciate your own body, that it carries you through life, signals you when you’re off track, and rewards you with such joy and wordless feelings when you connect with your own loving nature and that of other elemental forms around you.
Take that self out into the world and be aware of that loving spirit in others; not their behavior or their words, but the light within them. Smile. Share a positive thought or comment when an opportunity presents, but, on this day, mostly observe and feel the connection. If the spirit moves you, stop, place your hand over your heart, and bow (in body or in mind) ever so slightly in honor of the wondrous spark in each encounter.
While you’re out there, marvel at all you see. Buildings that provide shelter, built by hands willing to create and house people doing the best they can in each moment, doing remarkable deeds, or showing tremendous courage to endure the struggles they face. Buildings that encompass ideas in action, whether business or nonprofit. Imagine the possibility for shared goodness in these places, even the goodness that is already being shared. Marvel at the potential.
Notice the designs in structure and in nature, those buildings create a neighborhood that connects whether in the city or in the country. The trees lining the streets, or patches of grass or plants sprinkled about remind us of the natural world, again, and that we are a unique part of that world.
On the way home, notice how the light plays on every surface and how colors move from quiet to vibrant. Notice the shadows. Hear the sounds that, among the machinery, are the call of birds, the wind, the sprouting of a seed. Be mindful of all the loving action and potential in your world—all that you saw, felt, and heard—and all that you didn’t directly experience.
Bring that sense of awe into your home. Trust that loving place in you to make a few changes in your home as a reflection and a reminder of what is always there. Do not, yet, engage in those who cannot see. Stay in the space in which you have become so magically aware.
Share the energy of this day doing what truly brings you joy. Dust off an old hobby or discover a new one. If it’s been a while and you feel uncomfortable, all the more reason to reconnect with that joyous part of you, that divine spark within you, the same spark within others. It, absolutely, is there, but it is up to you to remember, engage, and share.
When the urge comes to return to a more familiar pattern of busyness and mindless technology, stop. Not today. Today you get to fill this day with the wonders of the real world. They are always there waiting for you to acknowledge, connect on some level, and appreciate. Going forward, make this a new habit.
The world truly is a wonderful place and only by remembering and choosing to be an active part of that wonder will we create more. Others will learn by our example and more people will stop in awareness and realize their world is a wonderful place, too.
It is time to choose a new way of seeing and being. It is time for the pendulum to swing the other way and then find its point of balance in this, a wonder-full world.
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