Awakening wonder
On my quest to unstuck myself I stumbled upon this amazing podcast that brought to my attention the topic of wonder and how it plays a major role in our lives and our life purpose. The guest mentioned that one of the ways we can unstuck ourselves is by going back to reading children’s books and I know what you may think, “how does this really help? ” Well that was an eye opener to me as well.
The world as it is, it’s quite superficial. We are all busy chasing after deadlines, unending projects, current trends that impact us in all aspects of life, unending projects, constant societal pressures and expectations, life stresses and the feelings of never being good enough.
Life has turned into a checklist where the new norm is simply surviving through our days and forgetting that the essence of life is simply living through each day with intention and being in the present moment. We have lost the feeling of wonder.
The kind that had us marvelling over the sight of airplanes, shadows, lady bugs. One that allowed us to question everything and allowed us to dream big without feeling delusional or crazy. We didn’t really care who’s watching us or how correct your answer was.
As children we were audacious and knew no shame and the more we got older we started shrinking ourselves and that’s where feelings of not being good enough or your dreams being so impossible crept in. The world taught us to be more realistic, practicapractical, serious. Ever since we’ve learnt to suppress and silence our imagination and creativity. Some of our dreams we had to shrink them cause they weren’t good enough or markatable enough,the world made us believe that it’s childish for us to have wonder or even dream big.
But what if we haven’t entirely lost wonder, what if it’s waiting on us to channel and re-awaken it?
As Adults trying to nagivate life here are some of the ways we can re-awaken Wonder in our day to day buy lives.
1. Slowing down and noticing the smallest things that surrounds us.
As we grow old we slowly loose the art of observing, we get to busy with work and our day to day activities and stresses that we forget to be observers and we end up missing out on so many things. As children we would notice even the smallest things including the changes in the clouds.
Wonder lives in the details and it’s in the smallest details that dreams are born, inventions are brought to life. The present moment allows us to also be in tune with our senses and being.
Always make a deliberate decision to be an observer. Slow down and allow wonder to take charge.
2.Reclaimining Imagination
Reclaiming our imagination is one of the ways for us to awaken wonder. Imagination acts as a link between who we are in the present moment and our inner child,the adventures of childlike enthusiasm. It also allows us to dream without limitlimit,hence allowing us to lead with joy.
3.Acting in Curiosity
Another way for us to awaken our sense of wonder is through curiosity. Curiosity allows us to our interests that arise from questioning our realities, allowing us to engage more with the world around us. Curiosity opens us up to new perspectives allowing us to be more knowledgeable and foster the spirit of wonder and being in awe.
4.Owning our playfulness
A key element that we’ve lost touch of is playfulness. Play in itself is sacred and plays an important role in regulating our nervous system. Playfulness allows us to deliberately embrace joy and embrace ease and lighthealightheartedness, allowing us to let go of viewing it as immature. Playfulness can look like allowing yourself to engage in activities without needing perfectionism or productivity. It opens us to approaching challenges with openness. Play allows us to nurture connections, regulate our nervous system and emotional resilience. Allowing playfulness into our lives reawakens our sense of wonder in our day to day activities.
5.Trusting yourself and allowing yourself to stand out.
Self trust is a foundation for Experiencing life with openness to wonder and being confident in who we are. When we build trust with ourselves we are able to make our own decisions without relaying on others opinion or people talking you out of your dreams and ideas. In addition to this we are able to get out of our comfort zone and follow our intuition. We are able to step into our creativity with no fear and it creates more room for new opportunities, discovery and meaningful experiences that fuels our sense of wonder.
We are all deserving of wonder and we don’t have to earn it cause its already in us. Reawakening wonder is all about enriching our reality and moving through life with intention and curiosity. By reawakening and reclaiming wonder we are able to live a more vibrant life that is deeply fulfilling and rich in all aspects. By choosing wonder we are opening ourselves up to a life full of endless possibilities, beauty and possibility. Let it be an act of resistance against the same systems that drain us.
