It was a perfect summer Sunday afternoon, not too hot, not too cold – just right!
Our active double date consisted of a thirty km (about 18 mile) bike ride and a picnic on the grounds of Royal Roads University in front of the National Historic site’s majestic Hately Castle.
As I lay on my back, bare feet enjoying the fresh green blades of grass, soaking up the rays, I was suddenly in awe. Up in the brilliant blue sky something amazing was happening. In a circle surrounding the sun was a full on rainbow! For the first time in my life, I saw a Sun Halo. Have you ever seen one?
It was coolio!! A moment of gratitude for this amazing home we call earth.
Suddenly in Awe.
When is the last time you were Suddenly in Awe? Do you remember how it made you feel? Happy, appreciative, content? It doesn’t have to be a rare occurrence, it can be an everyday event.
A beautiful flower, a glimpse of a hummingbird, a unique rock, unexpected laughter, a smell that brings back wonderful memories, turning on the tap and having hot water shower you, the meal prepared with love, the perfect throw of the Frisbee, the perfect catch!
More?
A surprise peek into someone’s stroller to see a newborn, witnessing a reunion at an airport, biting into a fresh baked treat, a delightful read, the wonder of how that plane got off the ground, or how our body systems all work to help us move and breathe and exist, how perfectly placed the earth is from the sun…
I could go on and on. But perhaps you could add to the list instead.
What puts you in a state of awe, even just for a moment?
A moment of appreciation, astonishment, wow-ness. If you can’t remember the last time you were Suddenly in Awe – wake up. Tap into your senses, open your eyes, listen, smell, touch, taste – then try it again. Really look. Really listen. Really smell. Really feel. Really taste.
Awe is there, waiting to be discovered. Sometimes it’s obvious like the Sun Halo, but mostly it’s in a thousand little moments that will slip away unacknowledged as we stomp through our busy lives.
It’s summer – what a perfect time for discovering!
BUT WAIT ... There was more...
Down on the ground, on the luscious castle greens, my artist friend had a burst of inspiration that could not be contained.
She grabbed my bare foot and proclaimed, “I need a canvas!” At which point she began to arrange tree ‘droppings’ and various lawn ‘treasures’ onto my foot.
You see, in the random shapes and colours of nature – she saw the makings of butterflies and she put them together on my foot to make her vision come to life right there, right then.
Sadly I didn’t take a photo before the wind decided the picture was complete but the lesson stuck.
Start where you are with what you have.
Speaking for myself, so many times I know I’ve waited for… more letters after my name, another course to be completed, the site to be ready, the timing to be perfect, the circumstances to be just so, the people to be all lined up, the facility, the weather, the cosmic forces to give me a sign…you get the idea – before I begin to do what I desire to do.
My friend on the other hand, started where she was, with what she had and made something happen. It wasn’t earth-shattering or life-changing or a mini-miracle or anything exceptionally grand, it was simply an idea she brought to life. An idea that could have died because she didn’t have a ‘proper canvas’. It was an idea she had that made her feel good, a simple pleasure, fulfilling her urge to create.
What if this week we commit to starting right where we are, with just exactly what we have? Not wanting more of anything to be there or less of something to occur.
Just start. No masterpieces are expected, just joy in the process of moving forward.
Starting where you are with what you have, and being Suddenly in Awe, it’s two more ways to live Your Life, Unlimited.
