If you’re overly attached to specific plans and expectations for the day or for your life, there’s a good chance you will miss out on some of life’s delights and opportunities. And if your attachment to certainty runs deep, you may find yourself less capable of navigating the unwelcome surprises of life that are difficult or heart-wrenching. When you let go of certainty, you’re more able to expand your peripheral awareness and remain open to the larger mysteries of life. You open the door to awe.

Grateful living invites you to maintain and nurture a lifelong curiosity about life — to remain open to possibility, wonder, and mystery. Br. David Steindl-Rast reminds us: “As long as nothing surprises us, we walk through life in a daze. We need to practice waking up to surprise.” Practicing on a small scale enriches your daily lived experience, while also helping you build the musculature to lean in to the uncertainty and mystery of more significant aspects of life.

Step One: Experiment

Choose one of these three simple practices and experiment with it for the day:

  • Listen Generously. Choose one person you’ll encounter today and set an intention to listen generously and without expectation. You might focus on a family member, colleague, grocery store clerk, health care provider, etc. This might involve calling someone on the phone. When you listen generously in this way, what surprises you in the conversation? In what ways does it enhance the connection between the two of you?
  • Take a New Route. If you go for a daily walk, mix it up. Be on the lookout for something beautiful or unusual that you’ve never seen, something that might be offering an experience of awe. If you commute to work, try a different route or commit to looking for something you’ve never noticed before on your well-worn path. In what ways might a simple shift of routine in how you move through the world create space for possibility and awe?
  • Say Yes, Not No. Is there any aspect of your life recently where opportunity has knocked but you’ve been too busy, too settled, or too certain to open the door and see what’s there? Maybe you were sure you already knew what was on the other side, or maybe you didn’t even hear the knocking (remember the gorilla!). Step back for a moment and take stock of where an unacknowledged opportunity may be open for you. Is there any aspect of your life where saying yes, not no, might yield a welcome surprise?

Step Two: Reflect

At the end of the day, reflect on the following:

  • What surprised you when you approached this habitual daily activity or mode of communication with a sense of possibility and wonder?
  • When have you been certain you know the end of a particular story (situation, relationship, conversation) instead of letting it unfold?
  • How might you adapt this simple practice to something larger in your life? What aspect of your life would benefit from releasing vigilance and building your capacity to trust the unknown? 
  • How might opening to surprising sources of awe support you in responding to the uncertainty of this time in the world?

Photo by Emma Thompson


Awaken to Awe

What would it mean for you to create more moments of awe in your daily life? In this self-guided series, learn how the practice of grateful living can help you expand and deepen your experience of awe.

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Sheryl Chard, Grateful Living
Sheryl Chard, Grateful Living

Sheryl Chard is the Director of Education at Grateful Living. She is a lifelong educator, passionate about designing innovative and beautiful spaces in which people are inspired to learn and grow. She has spent nearly three decades teaching and leading in schools and organizations, creating transformative learning experiences rooted in both scholarship and heart. In 2013, she founded the Sofia Center for Professional Development, whose professional offerings support and honor educators in their sacred work.

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