Here where I live in California, spring is in the air. The plum trees are blooming and the days are getting longer, which lifts my heart naturally.

There are countless ways to uplift the heart—from gratitude to friendship, from creativity to service. One of my favorites is wonder.

A few years back I was teaching a meditation retreat for educators, and one school teacher spoke about an activity she enjoys doing with five and six-year old students that waters the seeds of wonder in them.

Each week, she invites the children to share something they wonder about—a question or curiosity. They begin a sentence with the phrase, “I wonder…” “I wonder why butterflies fly? ...I wonder where the light goes when it’s dark? ...I wonder how the heart gets feelings?”

When everyone who would like to has spoken, they gather all of the questions and consider which one they are most interested in.

She calls it “the most beautiful question” for the day.

Then the students sit together in a circle. They agree that only one person will speak at a time, without raising hands. The teacher sits outside the circle, just listening, as the students explore the topic. They often have remarkable conversations.

How quickly we grow up. How easily we forget how to ask a beautiful question!

A beautiful question can pique our curiosity, invite us into deeper intimacy, and reconnect us with the awe and mystery of life. As the isolation, monotony, and hardship of the pandemic wears on, finding a little wonder can go a long way to nourish the spirit.

If you’d like to explore other ways to uplift and steady the heart in hard times, join me for Holistic Spirituality, a 3-part series in March starting next Saturday.

I hope you find some wonder in your day today.

With warm wishes,

Oren

Holistic Spirituality Series

Feel free to forward this email.

(Subscribe here | Read past newsletters)