I’ve had to unlearn my need to always be busy. For a type A overachieving workaholic, this has been the hardest habit to break. Leaving my old life behind has been terrifying. Discombobulating. As I start to feel better, it’s hard not to jump back to my old ways of being. But I’m coming to understand that this new way is OK. More than OK, it’s liberating.
You find yourself in a better place. A place you never imagined. I am accepting my new reality and for the first time in a very long time, not judging it, or myself. I’m letting it be what it is. With no big plans, no big goals, no destination I have to strive to reach.
The task I give myself these days is to find the small moments of joy. The moments of awe. And, they are everywhere if your mind is not pre-occupied with the future or the past. This has taken me far longer to learn because of the unlearning that had to happen first. But, I’m getting there and so can you.
I’m no doctor, but
’s post, Big Awe Can Come in Small Packages, hit all my intuitive buttons!She writes:
Two years ago, my family and I walked 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago. This doesn’t sound that unique until you add in that we were with my son in a wheelchair. When we walked and rolled into that final square in Santiago de Compostela, there wasn’t a dry eye in the square, including our family. It was a moment of awe. That we could do something so powerful and then inspire others around us to see the potential for something bigger as well. It was truly a moment of awe and the neuroscience on awe actually suggests that the goosebumps we all had in that square amplified the effects.
And,
You can find awe in the seemingly small moments. In fact, I would argue these connect us strongly to our immediate life.
For me, that was creating my garden. Getting my hands dirty, shovelling dirt and planting the seeds, made me feel better. The garden is now bursting with greenery and life. I check the progress of my strawberries, tomatoes and squash in the morning, as I sip my tea and wander between my garden boxes. I marvel at the growth in just a couple of months. I smile as I contemplate my own growth and who I am becoming.
Experiencing daily awe has health benefits too. Again, from
:Awe…
🩺 Decreases inflammation
🩺 Turns down the default mode network that is our part of the brain that ruminates
🩺 Increases connection to ourselves and others
🩺 Revives meaning and purpose
🩺 Makes us more generous and want to care for others
🩺 Improves well-being
All the feels I’m feeling because of gardening, or floating in the ocean every day, looking up at the clouds, marvelling at the deep pinks, purples and oranges of the sky at sunrise—all those benefits are REAL. Confirmed by a doctor.
Moments of awe can be big and loud or small and quiet. Here are a few of mine:
Awe from the glider plane unexpectedly and silently flying directly over my head while atop a mountain. The helicopter hovering and causing a powerful pull and then push as I bike through its downdraft. Peonies. They just inspire awe every time I look at one. Any variety.
A hummingbird flying above my head as I’m reading. Buzzing me not unlike the helicopter, forcing me to look up to see what the noise and commotion is all about. Hummingbird wings. They make quite a noise when all is quiet. Awe.
R describing the little boy who was coming home from Vancouver Children’s Hospital and having the whole student body of his school lining the streets as his parents drove him through the waves of people welcoming him home with love. He’s five. Mother in the front seat weeping. Dad driving face full of awe and gratitude. The young boy waving excitedly at all the well-wishers. Random acts of kindness. We need more of those.
Here’s a practice I’d love to share and hope you can join me in doing.
Each day, I’d like you to do one nice thing for yourself “just because,” not because you achieved something, or as a reward for a specific behaviour. Just because!
Practise offering one compliment to someone each day. (It’s better to complement people on something they did, rather on how they look.)
You’ll be adding a little joy to your own life and those of others by creating small moments of awe along the way. Let me know how it goes!
What say you?
Have you had a moment of awe recently? Or one that has stayed with you for years?
Have you had an experience with a random act of kindness—either as a giver or receiver?
What’s something nice you’ll do for yourself, just because?
Thank you for this reminder. My meditations remind me to feel awe and gratitude but it's tough to keep it with me all day.
I try to feel awe in what might seem mundane-- (okay don't laugh but I literally say this to myself) Someone designed that car wash! Someone really thought about the structure and comfort of my office chair (but not my skinny butt that doesn't quite fit), people spent years testing my thyroid medication...
I can’t add much to what you said, except thank you. My experience tracks exactly with yours. When I stopped working because I had nothing else to give, the sense of directionless and life without purpose were as bad as the PTSD symptoms. In my misery, I had to build a whole new life for myself and somehow hit pure gold. The travail was, after everything, the shortest route to a better life.