We Have the Power to Choose: Cultivate Awe

Revolutionary Awe is Here

We are not alone.

I have never felt as surrounded by the love, compassion, and devotion of kindred spirits as I have in the wake of this election. I’ve witnessed acts of pure generosity of time, energy, and emotional support. I’ve read comforting words in languages familiar and translated. I’ve seen and heard works of art inspired by current events that rival the canon greats. I’ve been lovingly called to action within communities whose commitments to their principles have never been stronger.

The care and kindness I’ve received, the care and kindness I’ve witnessed people releasing into the world, have brought me to my knees. My broken heart is being cleansed by the gratitude I feel for all these examples of what is good, right, just, loving, and hopeful.

Thank you to all of you who have done your part to buoy and sustain your fellow humans in the midst of this crisis.

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We are so Much Greater than the Pettiness and Hatred We’re Witnessing

I am in awe of what humanity can be, particularly at a time when we are simultaneously witnessing rampant examples of hatred, abuse of power, and contempt for people and institutions. Our potential to display goodness, to bring light in the darkness? Awe inspiring.

Sensitive people have an amazing response to awe. It’s like caffeine after a sleepless night: brightening our spirits, heightening our focus, breathing liveliness into our thoughts.

Yet awe is so much more. It gives us a sense that there is something greater than us out there. That could be a connection to something spiritual or religious. It could be to our higher self. Or it could be to our shared humanity.

Awe transcends the limits of my individual self. That’s an experience I’ve yet to get from the strongest cup of coffee.

Revolutionary Awe

In the face of all the ways that life is dark and ugly, I’m choosing to cultivate awe. It’s one example of how I’m committing to hope. Cultivating awe is also my defiant middle finger to the forces that would have us fall paralyzed into despair.

As long as there is awe, I will never give up.

This is what is fundamentally different for me this year than in 2016: I know that awe is enough to get me through these times. It has been a source of energy, inspiration, and stamina for all these years. Awe is at the center of my life and at the heart of how I’m helping the people around me sustain their sensitive revolutions.

I’m going to seek out awe in everyday, accessible places:

·      In the beauty of the loving and selfless acts I notice others perform

·      In the rhythms and the transformations of nature

·      In the space inside my heart from which my emotions flow

·      In the connections that I have to people, animals, places, books, art, music, rituals, spirit.

And I’m letting others know when I feel awe, because that’s an invitation for them to join me in the experience. I’ve been able to do that with:

·      Kids who have chosen to demonstrate courage and conviction in the face of meanness and a lack of integrity

·      Members of several groups I belong to who leaning on one another at a time where each of us feel too weakened to stand alone

·      A young, visionary leader who is building a coalition to support him in the next local elections in 2 years, despite being heartbroken at his party’s losses this fall

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They Cannot Rob us of Awe

My invitation to you is to choose to join me in cultivating awe amid the darkness we’re in today. Notice the moments of awe around you. Do things that create awe. Guide others to experience it.

None of us is going to feel perpetually connected to awe. We will all have moments of despair, anguish, pessimism, and profound inertia. But we don’t have to go through this alone. Let’s commit to being a community that cultivates awe. We can light each other’s way.