We had the experience, but missed the meaning. – T.S. Eliot

Most of us have experienced wonder at some point in our lives. It shows up as a peak moment of aliveness or awareness when we let go of all thoughts and are overcome with joy in the moment. We might be riding a horse at a full gallop, lying under a night sky full of stars, standing in a majestic redwood grove or participating in ceremony honoring the sacred.

Some call this state of wonder, a sacred, spiritual experience; and see life through these eyes. Others see and forget, or even suppress, the experience in a blink of an eye and return to a life preoccupied with other matters.

For a moment we touched a live spark, but did not fan it into fire, we let it go out. – Brother David Stendl-Rast

According to Brother David Stendl-Rast in his foreword to Meister Eckhart’s from Whom God Hid Nothing, the flash of this experience challenges us to embody, remember, and endure. He shares that “those brave ones who rise to the challenge endure the blinding vision, remember it in whatever they do, and so embody vision in action.” This “experience of communion with the Ultimate” provides them with a “sense of ultimate belonging.”

This sense of ultimate belonging is a foreign concept to many of us. We live such autonomous, fragmented lives. We have become disconnected from our inner selves and we feel as if we don’t truly belong. That inner fragmentation, disconnection, and sense of rejection (as that is what not belonging is at its core) is reflected in our outer lives. And this makes us feel very alone.

Autonomy is simply looking at life as though we are a world unto ourselves. As though we did it all by ourselves…. But the reality is, we are connected. The opposite of autonomy is gratitude. – Michael McKinney

How do we recapture this sense of wonder? How do we feel gratitude for this fleeting experience? How do we begin to embody it, so we then become the expression of wonder, of the sacred?

We start by noticing its presence. We acknowledge it. We remember it. We begin to allow it to guide us. And as we express our gratitude for it, it shows up again and again. As we attune to this, we begin to embody it; and as we embody it fully, we cannot but feel more connected to ourselves and life itself. We become the expression of it, which creates even more wonder.

Feel into how your life would be if you walked around in a perpetual state of wonder and gratitude. The word “sweet” comes to mind for me. Now feel into how others might respond to you as you express the very thing for which you are grateful. They might just see someone full of wonder and light, someone who IS gratitude.

As wonder would have it, in my inbox this morning was a post by Michael McKinney, who writes the Leadership Now blog, titled, Unconditional Gratitude.

He shares in his post, “Real gratitude doesn’t appear at moments in our life, but it is a disposition we have towards life. Real gratitude is unconditional.” And it endures, well beyond Thanksgiving.

I am grateful for my life; my work, which allows me to touch the sacred every day; my family and friends; and for you, dear reader as you grace me with your presence here.

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