Quiet Wonder

Hello Dear Ones!

Today it is 20 degrees outside, the air is brittle-dry, and the sunlight is spectacular. I am curled up on my couch, bathing in the sun pouring in, and listening. The plink, plink of my wood stove is the only sound around me in my home. I am so quiet inside of myself that I really see and savor the steam lifting up out of the hot cup of tea on the windowsill. If a pin dropped, I would hear it. Every tiny detail, even the way my clothes wrap around my body, feels incredible. I feel wrapped in wonder. Wrapped in reverence.

Yesterday my family and I heard the call of an owl at breakfast. We sat in wonder: How could we hear this through our thick, insulated house walls? And why is this sweet owl hooting in the morning? And aren’t we so very lucky!

Then. Yesterday my son wanted me to see a fairy house he was working on with a friend at school. It was afternoon, with the low sun making the world glow. The fairy house was built into the base of a tree, on a hillside of scattered pine trees… overlooking a meadow. The sun was heating up this hillside such that the skin of my bare face and hands felt the heat. I had forgotten what sunlight on skin felt like. What a delicious feeling. The sun also lit up the tips of the tree branches, the tips of tall grasses in the meadow, and glittered the surface of a nearby stream. And the fairy house- such beauty. Pieces of bark were laid together to create a beautiful structure, with flat stones collected and placed in a neat and curvacious pathway to the front door. All created by young hands. I just stood in utter, gasping wonder. It was quiet, still and in that moment, everything was a miracle. It was all just so beautiful. “This is it. This is everything a person could want. This beauty. This presence. This is everything,” I said to myself.

I offer these anecdotes to you to contemplate.

This season, the darkest time of the year, is our opportunity for quiet, for stillness, and for the experience of utter wonder. Children are in a state of wonder all the time. Did you know that? In fact, living in a state of wonder is part of our human design. We adults once knew this during our own childhood… and it’s up to us now to find our way back. Being in a state of quiet wonder means that we actually see, feel, smell, taste, hear. It means that we are deeply present, in awe, and astonished by all that life is, swirling and twinkling around us.

When we create stillness inside of ourselves, we are really in the greatest alignment with life. With ourselves. This experience of quiet wonder is also an incredible opportunity to soak up restorative energy. Being so in tune with ourselves and the world around us, at the same time, offers a kind of restoration that truly benefits us on every level of our being.

And. This can be really challenging, at least at first. I know this personally. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 20. Let me tell you that inner stillness is a BIG challenge for me. I have found ways to harness my very active mind. Listening to music is a big one. Years ago I was at an ecstatic dance event and found that the pounding rock music helped usher me into the deepest and clearest meditative state I have ever experienced.

These days, in this season of quiet wonder, quiet inner stillness, I tend to lean into the quiet music of VOCES8 and George Winston (not pounding rock music this time, but I’ll bet that’s just the thing for some of you!). Just the right music can help usher me back into my own quiet stillness, so that I return to a state of wonder.

So what about you? What music, or place in your home, or place outside helps you return to stillness, helps return you to wonder? You may or may not know. It’s all fine. I invite you to start experimenting with this. Music. Comfort. Ambient sounds or utter quiet. Meditation. Time in the forest. Even just standing still in the center of a busy city, quieting our insides so that we can receive all that swirls around us.

Can you still yourself for a moment, so that you can feel the utter sanctity of life within and outside yourself? This will take practice, and is so worth it.

So here is the extension: Once you experience, and are in, this delicious and quiet wonder…. What kinds of knowing or clarity come to you? How do you make decisions when you are in this kind of experience? This exquisite presence? What becomes a truth that guides you?

I am wishing you glimpses of delicious quiet wonder, hoping it offers peaceful rest and rejuvenation during this darkest season of the year.

In deep gratitude for everything in this sweet life,

Rebecca

* Disclaimer: This likely goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: Everything I write is for educational purposes only. Nothing I write or share can be deemed diagnostic or medical advice. Nothing I write or share can replace your own healthcare providers. Period. Please seek tailored medical care and advice via your skilled healthcare team whenever you need it.