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Daily Question, February 22

What kinds of experiences open you to awe?

  • k'Care-Reena

    Learning more about my ancestors and heritage.
    Being one with natives vs in the city.
    Coaching others & healing them from disempowering beliefs. These things help me feel fully alive and fulfilled.

  • Kristi

    Travel- the world is full of wonder!

  • nadders

    Sunsets, king fisher. High tides, low tides, amazing food, other people’s strength and kindness.

  • Malag

    Thankfully many. For example hiking in the mountains looking down on the expanse of rolling hills. Gazing at a starry sky. Sailing in a nice breeze with your body one with the tiller or wheel. Playing with a dog, dropping all barriers to do so. Watching a dancer’s incredible movement.

  • Twinmom

    Nature and watching my 15-month old twins learn new things daily. Watching them be so excited about everything makes my heart melt.

  • Dusty Su

    Nature, nature, nature.

    The miracle of change, connection, redemption, love.

    How divinely complex and intricately made we are as a species.

    Our resilience.

  • sb
    So many things. Nature is perhaps the biggest -a bird, chance meeting with a deer, a beautiful plant, a carpet of snowdrops, me out in the big wide world, just me and the scenery, mountains, a lovely sunset. Sometimes music does it to me as well, especially if combined with nature - I have never forgotten driving past one of the big estates near here when Tchaikovsky's symphony came on at the same time as the sky was totally filled with geese flying over. Definitely awe inspiring. Other life sto...

    So many things. Nature is perhaps the biggest -a bird, chance meeting with a deer, a beautiful plant, a carpet of snowdrops, me out in the big wide world, just me and the scenery, mountains, a lovely sunset. Sometimes music does it to me as well, especially if combined with nature – I have never forgotten driving past one of the big estates near here when Tchaikovsky’s symphony came on at the same time as the sky was totally filled with geese flying over. Definitely awe inspiring. Other life stopping memories include the first time we saw Gibraltar from a cruise ship – this improbable rock rising from the sea. cinque Terra in Italy – why ever did people decide to live on these sheer rock faces, Our cruise shop filling the entire port of Stavanger and then, in the next port, being totally dwarfed by the mountains, sitting in the hot tub on the ship with Monte Carlo wrapped round us, attending Mass in the Vatican, a “troglodyte” church in France, which was one of them most spiritual places I have been to. So many things touch me and open me to awe and, while listing them, I was trying to decide what was the defining factor – and that is something I realise I can’t answer. Perhaps it is just being ready to accept it when it happens, being aware of what is going on around, not being too caught up in life’s busyness – all I know is that there are so many wonderful things out there. We are so lucky

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  • Don Jones

    The whole enchilada – all of it!

  • Melissa

    Looking at the Milky Way and stars in the night sky. Beauty of trees and the ocean. Nature and anyone who has talent to play music, sing and paint . The miracle of a vaccine to fight diseases. The sunrise and sunset. Kindness of humans in challenging times. Holding a newborn baby.

  • Etta

    Humility in our shared humanity opens me to awe.

  • Chester

    Connecting with the infinite, humbling, beyond understanding – just a few features of such experiences that come to mind.

  • Holly in Ohio

    Hiking in the unspoiled Scottish landscape and other great and small experiences of nature.
    Learning something new and stimulating… this morning it was about the intelligence and training of horses.
    Seeing, hearing, reading great art, music, writing, architecture, science, that lifts us above what we were, appreciating the miracle of what people can create.
    Great acts of kindness and love.

  • JKR

    This massive, hostile, cold and extreme universe could destroy us in an instant, yet we survive.

  • Toni
    Nature always opens up awe in me. Yesterday I noticed icicles on the lower branches of a tree. I stepped closer through the snow and looked up. There were three distinct icicle formations that reminded me of chandeliers leading to the top. Looking closer it looked like veins in the icy branches thickly coated and frozen. I took pictures but could not do it justice. As people passed by they must have thought I was nuts! But I thought to myself if only they could see what I see they would b...

    Nature always opens up awe in me. Yesterday I noticed icicles on the lower branches of a tree. I stepped closer through the snow and looked up. There were three distinct icicle formations that reminded me of chandeliers leading to the top. Looking closer it looked like veins in the icy branches thickly coated and frozen. I took pictures but could not do it justice. As people passed by they must have thought I was nuts! But I thought to myself if only they could see what I see they would be marvoling at the site as well.

    Read More
  • pkr

    Mother Nature in all her glory. Spring flowers, changing leaves, green green hills, roses, dahlias, redwood trees, waterfalls, the ocean, birds joyfully singing, Golden Gate Park…..I could go on & on….. ❤️

  • DeVonna
    The "random" ones. The unexpected blessings, favors, divine coincidences, those are the ones that can leave me stunned with gratitude. My youngest daughter is troubled. She is a mother of two precious boys, one of whom I've never met. She cut off all communication with us almost six years ago. It grieves me deeply but I have learned to process the loss of her almost like a death. One day, I was cleaning up my old laptop in preparation for recycling it, when I came across an old Word file. It w...

    The “random” ones. The unexpected blessings, favors, divine coincidences, those are the ones that can leave me stunned with gratitude.
    My youngest daughter is troubled. She is a mother of two precious boys, one of whom I’ve never met. She cut off all communication with us almost six years ago. It grieves me deeply but I have learned to process the loss of her almost like a death.
    One day, I was cleaning up my old laptop in preparation for recycling it, when I came across an old Word file. It was titled simply, “THANKS”. Curious, I opened it…as I read it tears filled my eyes. It was a love-note from my estranged daughter, written when she was 15. In it she tells me what a great mom I am to my children and how sorry she is for the many times she has been difficult. She tells me she loves me, several times and ends the note with “whenever I’m mad at you, read this note and know that I love you.”
    What a gift. My precious girl could not have known how very sweet this little note would be. I am in awe.

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    • Michele

      Prayers for both you and your daughter.

    • Javier Visionquest

      How fortunate you are, if only to have that one letter, DeVonna!

    • Toni
      When my mother passed I found a letter I gave to her with similar sentiments among her many treasures. Before she passed we made amends and it was powerful and necessary for me to be able to heal. That relationship was the most important of all even though we were not able show much affection and to this day I miss her and wish we would have been able to show more love and honor for each other. We were both angry people with lots of scars to heal. She knew me well but was very smothering and...

      When my mother passed I found a letter I gave to her with similar sentiments among her many treasures. Before she passed we made amends and it was powerful and necessary for me to be able to heal. That relationship was the most important of all even though we were not able show much affection and to this day I miss her and wish we would have been able to show more love and honor for each other. We were both angry people with lots of scars to heal. She knew me well but was very smothering and that caused a lot of friction. I still talk to her when I feel the need and pray for her soul but mostly I miss her even though it was a very difficult relationship. I hope you and your daughter get to a place where you can understand each others pain and begin to heal in ways that you both never thought possible. I’m sure since she is a mother she really needs you but does not know how to make amends. I pray that day does come soon especially now during the pandemic when time is so available.

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    • Holly in Ohio
      Amazing, DeVonna. Thank you so much for sharing this. It tugs at my heartstrings. Two of my friends, and myself, each had an estranged child. It is epidemic in this time, something to do with this generation and how they cope. Two of the three of us have since been reunited with the children we thought we'd never know again, and our relationships are stronger than ever, for the reunification. The third, still suffers the loss... but I hold hope they will be reunited. Estrangement does n...

      Amazing, DeVonna. Thank you so much for sharing this. It tugs at my heartstrings.

      Two of my friends, and myself, each had an estranged child. It is epidemic in this time, something to do with this generation and how they cope. Two of the three of us have since been reunited with the children we thought we’d never know again, and our relationships are stronger than ever, for the reunification. The third, still suffers the loss… but I hold hope they will be reunited. Estrangement does not mean you failed as a parent. This generation is often struggling inside themselves. Have faith that the love you gave them is still with them, and that they, however long they are away, still love you.. Above all, be kind to yourself.

      Read More
  • Carol

    The first thing that comes to mind is my son bottle feeding a new born baby squirrel that apparently fell out of its mother’s nest. He named it Winky because it was so young, its eyes were only partially open. Winky is all grown up now and lives in a tree on my son’s land. He eats almonds and walnuts my son places in his feeder, chatters conversationally when he sees my son or daughter-in-law and graciously poses for pictures.

  • Patricia

    A doe looking into my front window, open-eyed, reminding me to put out those handfuls of dried corn for her….

  • Cathie

    Most nature experiences – standing in outside in the dark in utter silence, looking at a starry night, standing by the ocean – hearing the waves, paddling through a quiet lake or river, hiking through a forest, seeing rays of light come through tree branches and the particles dancing in the sunlight, a sunrise and sunset, moon and moonbeams, storms – thunder and lightning, seeing couples newly in love, sometimes rituals, others that I cannot recall right now.

  • Michele

    birth of a child, the human body, nature, weather, space

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