Exercise Your Spirits

How long has it been since you looked in your lover's eyes and rediscovered the spark that ignited when you "knew"? There are times when that feeling seems completely absent in my life and I am worried that we "out grow" the ability to be ...for lack of a better word..."enchanted". I often look at my kids and think how jealous I am having many of their "firsts" still ahead of them. Remember your first crush/love? Just sit back and try and recapture the feeling the first time you looked at another and your heart was firing on all pistons. In my case I never even said a word to the girl but that didn't matter. It wasn't being with that girl that was important, it was just the fact of being in love and knowing that you have it in your heart to have that strong a feeling was so..so enchanting and mystifying.

A quick retreat to the Goo Goo and I see enchanted is defined as "great charm and fascination", it is also a movie with Amy Adams and Susan Sarandon (no relation to the cling wrap). The definition leaves me less than enchanted. There is an odd combination of charm, wonder and suddenness that really describes the feeling I am driving at. I am sure you know it too. I suppose we can best describe the feeling in terms of human experience. For example, I felt that way the first time I touched the skin of a dolphin or when canoeing down the south fork of the Potomac having a bald eagle swoop over our craft as both the eagle and I looked for a good fishing spot. Sometimes the same experience at a different time has charm like powers. I probably made a face the first time I tasted coq au vin but when I was twelve it was the most marvelous dish I had tasted next to my mother's marinated chuck steaks. You might think this feeling is trivial but to me it seems basic and well...healthy. There are probably special hormones created at these times that are fundamental for a healthy life.

How long has it been since you looked at a bird with simple amazement as it flapped its wings and rose to take on the breeze and challenge the sky? We have the time. I know we have the time. I regularly look up at the moon or study the changing mountains here in the desert but I rarely marvel at them. Am I just too jaded? I would like to think we can't out grown those feelings. Sometime when I look at "older" people, I wonder if I am seeing the real them or if this is just what is left after the life has slowly drained from them. I guess I also wonder if I am going to be the kind of retiree that complains about nearly everything and examines things rather than appreciating them. Will any of my patience be left when I am seeing the other side of life? As if I have any patience to begin with.

When do we lose that abilty to marvel at the simple. It isn't just a case of stopping and smelling the roses either. I feel my generation is so lucky in that the amount of "free" time we have to stop and enjoy life is good and plenty. Sure that dosen't inherently mean that we use that time to "appreciate life". That was what was so cool about being twelve (or whatever) you didn't have to stop life to turn the masonary work on the sidewalk into a playground, a fantasy game, or an easel to bleed your creativity upon.

So, is this just an age thing? or can be turn back the emotional clock and recapture the ability to wonder with amazement? I am afraid it isn't just a matter of yoga and meditation although not far from those practices. I think it is a skill. Just like other skills, if we do not exercise that skill, train and properly hone the talent we lose it it gradually even if we excelled at it when we were younger. So what do we do? First we have to decide that we want to be enchanted. This is a big step and one that is too easily overlooked. At times I feel like I am done with being enchanted. Let's just live and forget the crap, but then too much time goes by and the feeling of life becomes hollow. We must experience to nourish the soul. So, having gotten here we have to consciously decide to practice our wonder and amazement. I am no expert but I suggest that new experiences are the most important spark in developing these feelings and fortifying the ability to recreate them. Even the word virgin pulls triggers in our subconscious that are powerful. We have to trod in virgin territory and savor each step. Place yourself in many marvelous situations and consciously lead our mind down the positive. Arts, sports, social activities wherever you can find it. Be greedy with your desire to experience and never feel like it is enough. As we develop we have to construct and use a language of positiveness and enrich it with charming amulets of syntax (I always liked that word syntax..especially the syn part). The language we infuse in our lives is the language of our feelings. It isn't necessary to express feelings with other people but to describe to ourselves how we are and what kind of spiritual progress we are making.

So let's do it. Lets go out into the world and marvel, wonder and be enchanted. Recently a friend of mine was describing a situation with a family member calling her progress a small miracle. Do you know the what the difference between a small miracle and a large miracle is?

Nothing.

See you after your next miraculous enchantment.