The Power of Wow - Enchanting the Now!

Some Wisdom Traditions claim wonder and awe are the very beginning of wisdom. Recent research indicates that the state of awe, (WOW - wide-open wonder) has an amazing array of benefits for humans, including reduced body inflammation (the cause of many diseases). When we are in a state of awe, we change our biochemistry in the direction of greater health, as well as affording us greater generosity, humility, and higher levels of happiness and cooperation. People are less materialistic and more patient, with a sense of having more time in their lives. 

Neuropsychological research reveals that when we are in a state of wonder and awe, activity in the ego center of the brain is diminished. Brain imaging research indicates that the state of wonder and awe is the same brain state as when on psychedelics, no substance necessary. No wonder then that The Power of Wow is a path to greater wisdom.

Nature Activity:
Go out and wander in nature; this can be a park, your yard, or the wildlands. Letting your heart guide your attractions to all things natural, and using your five senses, open to a sense of awe and wonder toward the life all around you. Look at a leaf, a flower, a tree, mountain or stream, a bird, anything in the plant kingdom, animal kingdom, or mineral kingdom, and pause in heartfelt amazement that it even exists. Simply gaze and utter Wow! Look, listen, touch, smell, and with caution, perhaps taste.*  A particularly powerful Wow practice is to gaze in wonder and awe at the night sky. 

Stand in rapt wonder and awe that everywhere you look, all things have their source in the same creative act, whether you call it the Big Bang, the Great Flaring Forth, or Ma/God. Purposely let the sense of wonder and awe expand from your heart throughout your body. 

You may want to journal about your experience afterward. When your day gets you down, wander outdoors and practice The Power of Wow!

Once you get some momentum with this you can practice the Power of Wow with everyone you meet, sensing them as a divine being. The Masters teach that seeing everyone’s divinity is the most beneficial thing we can do for others, seeing past the personality to the divine Sun Within everyone. Wow!

"The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical.
It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.
To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists,
manifesting itself as the highest wisdom
and the most radiant beauty..."
~Albert Einstein

*Do not taste anything that you are not sure is safe.

“Enchantment is the oldest form of medicine.
~Carl Jung