“My sorrow and longing connect me to everyone, everywhere — and them to me.”
~
Kristi Nelson, Wake Up Grateful

Today’s practice is an invitation to cultivate peak awareness as a way of expanding our perspective. If you consider your life thus far, chances are it’s not hard to bring to mind some of the peak experiences of your journey, those that have engulfed all your senses and offered an experience of awe. They may have been joyful, light, sorrowful, mysterious, or deeply tender: holding a newborn, dancing in a crowd to your favorite band, being present to someone dying, standing on a mountaintop, or simply being with a person you love regardless of the circumstance. In these peak moments, there’s the potential for something in us to come more fully alive, to glimpse a sense of life’s mystery, to see the arc of our lives from a new vantage point. These are extraordinary gifts that offer insights we can, in turn, cultivate and carry into our daily lives.

Photo: Pexels/Pixabay

  • Begin by taking a few moments to return to our daily breathing exercise.  
  • From this place of presence, allow your mind to flip through a catalogue of memories to land on a peak experience that is deeply meaningful to you.  Through visualization, writing, or even drawing, recall the details of that experience — its textures and sounds, the way the air felt, any words exchanged. Drawing on all your senses, allow yourself to savor what emerges.  
  • Once you’ve fully recalled this moment, we invite you to reflect on the following questions: What did you see or know clearly in the midst of that peak experience? What was revealed to you? How was your perspective expanded or shifted?  
  • As you navigate this time of uncertainty in the world, what was it that you knew for certain or saw clearly in an experience of peak awareness that could guide you today? Take a moment for written reflection to explore this question.

We also invite you to share your reflections below.

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Enjoy the full seven-day Wake Up to Perspective practice.


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