“Be unafraid of consummate wonder.” – Danna Faulds
When was the last time you felt genuine wonder?
Were you listening to the complex song of rushing water in a nearby creek? Were you watching a loved one breathe and sigh in sleep? Were you pushing phrases around — patiently, intently – until at last you sensed an almost audible click of right-relation or linguistic harmony?
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, “wonder” is:
“A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.”
If your writerly senses feel saturated with drabness…
it’s time for more wonder.
If your capacity to feel deeply right now is tensile or austere…
it’s time for more wonder.
If your creative ideas are arid, terse or flat…
it’s time for more wonder.
In the eleven-plus years I’ve spent mentoring and supporting writers, I have yet to meet a man or woman who is over-saturated with wonder.
We all need more wonder.
“Wonder” is a catalyst for nuance, passion and dimensionality.
“Wonder” is a necessary nutrient for the creative heart, mind and body.
When saturated with surprise flushed with admiration, we are open. We are connected. We are agile. We are free. The experience of wonder, when we’re in it, banishes concepts, beliefs and self-restraints that holds us back from courage, complexity and truth.
The good news is this: whether you’re seeking wonder on a mountain trail or in a subway car, an experience of wonder is always, always available to you.
The trick is to focus your attention.
- Move more slowly.
- Look more closely.
- Listen more deeply.
I like to focus on noticing forms, relationships, contexts or sensations in the world around me. Surely there’s some small beauty, some mystery, some crazy delight you can savor right now? Think of your neurotransmitters! The persistent beating of your heart!
The antidote to a bone-dry heart is to practice each day allowing wonder to come. When you do so, encourage the creative river to flow again. You widen your perception and make room for the lush complexity of life or circumstance to inhabit your senses, warm your heart and brighten your mind. You become alive.
Your attention is a tremendous and powerful tool you can use to live more passionately and write more creatively. This tool is portable. It’s free. It’s fun.
Use it!
with love from your coach,
Marla
p.s. – Gratitude today to Insight meditation teacher and psychologist, Tara Brach, who sparked my ideas today.
p.p.s.s. – If you need help refreshing your perspective, discerning your true priorities and mapping out a practical, passionate plan to boldly live from the very heart of your truth, I’m here to help. Start by listening to my Fire in the Belly talk, which you can access here.
