"Surrender to the Sweetness. Pleasure. Joy. Make love to life."
A beautiful message, one that encouraged my breath to soften, my shoulders to relax. I settled into the moment, trusting that needed decisions would be made and a way would open before me so that all that needed doing would get done. That message has stayed with me ever since, and was seconded by the opening lines of the Mary Oliver poem "Don't Hesitate", which a friend read at a local poetry gathering a few weeks back~~
"If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give in to it."
So I have been practicing. And as I attune to joy, surrender to sweetness, and approach each day as love-in-the-making, I find that life meets me at least halfway. Life makes love to me in return.
Of course such an attitude doesn't make everything easy. Challenges don't magically evaporate. But when I maintain a connection to the stream of goodness that runs beneath it all, I am better able to meet whatever comes with a freshness conducive to a beneficial outcome. This is not earthshakingly new. We know this. We have all found ourselves better able to manage difficulties when in a good frame of mind and heart, than when we meet them already burdened.
When I created my website nearly 16 years ago now, I needed to choose its name and a url to match. That task required that I find and briefly state what guided me through this world, so that others would have a sense of who I am and if we'd be a good match. I rather quickly came up with www.in-awe.net, which linked to this blog titled Living In Awe. Those names are accurate. Awe has been my lodestar, lending me focus and eliciting from me a commitment to live its teachings in my life.
Of course, I'm not always successful. I stumble and fall on a regular basis. But in seeking to live that intention, I am keeping company with a vast host of others. Not only is awe a cornerstone of most faith traditions, it is getting some big press these days from modern-day researchers.
For example, in his recent book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner shares the results of investigations he and others have done into the nature of awe and its effects on humans.While Keltner's attempts to dissect and catalog the various manifestations of awe struck me as odd, since what so often gives rise to awe is communing with the great Mystery which, by definition, cannot be understood rationally, I did find the biological effects of awe illuminating.
It seems that awe is good for us, its effects measurable. For example, immersion in the natural world leads to "awe-related vagus nerve activation" which in turn leads to reductions in "fight-or-flight cardiovascular response, blood pressure, cortisol, and inflammation." When listening to music, "the dopaminergic circuitry of the brain is activated, which opens the mind to wonder and exploration." And portions of our brains—the amygdala, caudate nucleus, and prefrontal cortex—synchronize with the brains of others when we listen together.
As I alluded to above, I am not inclined to bring my rational mind into the subject of awe, beyond recognizing it as essential to a vibrant experience of living and finding avenues for its fuller embodiment. And I care not whether we call it awe or sweetness, ecstasy or joy. It matters little to me whether I find it amid the splendor of nature, while listening to music, or through stepping into that vast current of Love.
It is not the words or the avenue that matter. It is opening to it and letting it have its way, allowing it to change us and heal our misconceptions and limited views. Surrendering to it, as my oracle card urges, leads to more love. Thus, we really do make love.
Mary Oliver's poem ends with these words:
"Joy is not made to be a crumb."
Indeed. No matter who you are and what challenges you face, I wish you a full meal, my friend. No, I wish you a seven-course feast to feed your soul.
In love and awe,
Leia
In love...and in awe,
Leia
And for a short (less than 10 minutes!) guided meditation on Awe, click here. And enjoy...and share to your heart's content!
