There’s an essence that is one of the most precious in the universe.
An element that’s becoming increasingly rare.
A fleeting bit of childhood that slips through adult fingers almost without fail.
A shining bit of quicksilver undervalued and dismissed although it glints precious, almost extinct, right at your fingertips.
What is this treasure, you may ask?
Wonder.
Yes, wonder–that thing that you were born with and have somehow lost along the way. That thing that sly time and this overrated experience called “growing up” have begun to strip from you.
And I’m telling you, no, begging you–hold on for dear life. Yes, for your very life, reader–for life is much, much dimmer and dingier without wonder.
If you want to see what you once were, look at a child. Really look. Listen. Feel. Learn to recognize that thing that lights up their eyes when they gently cup the velvet petals of a white and yellow wildflower in their small fingers. That thing that bubbles up in their laugh when they fly through the air on a tree swing, eyes closed, arms outstretched to embrace the breeze. That thing that inhabits their voice when they bury their nose in the new spring grass and say, “It smells green,” or when they reach their hands up to the sky as if their fingers could graze the white, fluffy clouds and say, “They’re so soft.”
Next time you watch a child, don’t dismiss their antics as “childishness.” Instead try to see the world through their eyes. Become like a child again. Try to rediscover…
The story in a strain of wordless music. The way a book can make your heart beat faster. How a picture can take your breath away. The excitement and eagerness and the dash of danger that floods you when you stand beneath the ocean waves. The wildness that overtakes you when you sprint, barefoot, along the deserted shore. The way the soaring of a hawk can lift your heart with it. The way the feel of grass under your bare feet or the wriggle of a newly unearthed worm can make you giggle. How a hug can be the safest place in the world. How joy can be a whole-body experience, not just a thought. How wonder can imbue your life with color again.
Take nothing for granted. Seek out every little beauty, for there is beauty in everything. Wonder is hidden in plentiful pockets and caches for the open-hearted treasure hunter, if we will only seek. And this lifelong search just keeps on giving.
Will you become a seeker?