Reverb 10 ~ Wonder

December 4 – Wonder.

How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

(Author: Jeffrey Davis)

This is how I have cultivated wonder this year and in my life: I stop and stare. I ask questions. What are they doing? Why is it like this? What would that feel like?

Whose goats are those? Why does that cow have a rope around one horn? Is this a wedding? Why is everyone so dressed up? Where are they all going? I learn from my kids about how to see everything, to not miss a thing.

In India it is the cultural norm to stare, to ask questions. (I have even had women in the market ask me if I am going to have the "operation" since I have had four children and should now be finished.) I had resigned myself to being stared at, but then I realized what a waste resignation was. I needed to use it to my advantage! So I stare, ask questions. It's okay to look like a tourist, wherever you are. In fact, so many things we equate with being a tourist (ie: being uncool) are simply things that accompany wonder. But living in wonder is only for the foreigner? I would hope not.

No matter how familiar you are with a place, you can still look around with wide eyes.