Seeking Awe, Finding Even More

Today’s Awe = Love Notes from My Daughter

Here’s the deal: We make this happiness thing too hard. We think we have to be different, buy something new, lose weight, make more money, dress better, to feel good in life. To be good in life. Baloney.
If you want to feel a little better in your day, find a little peace and joy, you simply must notice the goodness right before you, right now.
Of course there are going to be tough things and challenges and it’s going to rain on your parade and I mean, like really rain. But even right then, in the middle of that downpour, you can notice that the cotton candy is safely tucked in a plastic bag and AREN’T YOU LUCKY?

This pen is AWESOME. It was a gift and I do feel the love when I use it and it is so cool that this little contraption can drop ink down on the page. It’s a variety of the same kind of thing Shakespeare and Dickens used for Pete’s Sake and I get to have one too.

In the midst of the mundane, in the middle of the routine, or smack-dab in the I-don’t-know-how-to-handle-this adversity, you can find something wonderful. You can discover something awesome — inside you or right there in front of you — and that will inoculate you a bit from despair. It will raise your energy and your mood just enough for you to make it through.

The Look of Every-Day Awe

It’s a rainy (again) dreary day in the Pacific Northwest and I needed a pick-me up so I decided to seek out and access the awe in every day. I challenged myself to wander around and identify things that are wonderful or beautiful or amazing and then savor them for 30 seconds — to just be still and notice how many awesome things there are in the THIS moment. Like I didn’t even have to go anywhere special, or do anything different. Heck, I didn’t even have to change clothes. I opened my peepers and took a good  look around and I found AWE everywhere. LIKE EVERYWHERE.

I’m telling you what, the first sip of my coffee this morning was awesome. I stopped what I was doing and savored it for a minute, the warmth and richness.

And the crazy thing? When you start to look at life with a certain reverence and admiration (that’s AWE folks) you immediately get chased down by gratitude and appreciation and then comes curiosity, followed closely by creativity and soon, soon, like right away comes peace and well-being and love and hope.
Awe give us access into the goodness. Where will you find the awesome in your life today?







These FLOWERS outside my front door. Blooming in winter, through torrential rains and winds, freezing rain AND snow and they keep on doing their thing because they are wired that way to grow and bring beauty and I’m trying to notice and appreciate them and not just walk on by because they are awesome.