Living In Wonder

A few things have happened in my life lately that have been very clear invitations to live with a greater sense of wonder. For many of us these days (my self included, big time), the first step is putting the damn phone down.

I had a long layover at SFO a few weeks ago, and so I had lots of time to walk around, eat lunch alone, and people watch. It was fascinating… and bizarre. I felt like I was watching some futuristic sci-fi Twilight Zone episode in which humans had taken on this other form with heads tilted downward, shoulders hunched forward, and one arm permanently hooked in front of the body with this glowing device affixed to the palm. These devices appeared to be swallowing faces, consuming attention, and numbing every other part of the body from the neck down. It was truly incredible (and also tragic) to observe on such a large scale.

We are living like this — sucked into our smart phones, completely missing each other and countless, minute, wonder-full occurrences happening every single moment right out here, just inches from us. So, I repeat, Step 1: Put. The. Phone. Down.

The second step takes place once we have managed to peel the face/mind/attention-sucking device from our palms and put it into out pocket or purse or (God forbid) leave it at home (this honestly makes me anxious just thinking about it), and we are living with our skull floating back on top of our spine once again, our arms swinging by our sides, and our attention out in this incredible world. It’ll undoubtedly be only a matter of minutes spent living this way before we come across something that invokes in us a feeling of awe, inspiration, wonder. The second step is to resist the urge to reach back into your pocket, grab your phone, and attempt to capture it with a photo or video. This seemingly harmless action (and my god, I know intentions are good), totally takes you out of the moment and alters your experience. Resist feeding the fear that your solitary experience of whatever this moment is is not enough or that it isn’t valid if it hasn’t been documented, shared, or posted. Instead, we can choose to breathe into the moment and experience it with all five senses. If we can fully experience and take it in in this way, it will be absorbed into and remembered by the cells of our body, recorded just as exactly as we need it to be. I have an adorable, brilliant, and funny young child. His grandparents do not live near us. I currently have 11,522 photos and 1,339 videos on my phone. I know how hard this second step is.

All of this to say that the present moment is all we ever have, and if we are not fully present for it, we are missing all of life, because all of life happens in the present moment. We have this very moment, right here, right now. And then it is gone. And then we have this moment, right here, right now. And then that one is gone.