‘The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our
senses to grow sharper.’

William Butler Yeats

A year of awe and wonder

A new year brings an opportunity to both look back and look forward. It’s a time to appreciate and acknowledge all those who helped us through the previous year and to re-connect with what really matters and what’s important to us in the coming year.

At the turn of the year I took part in an online ceremony at The Upaya Zen Centre in Santa Fe. I welcomed the New Year in stillness, and in an atmosphere of calm and quiet reflection. As part of the ceremony there was a shared commitment to make 2023 a year where we will endeavour to deepen our capacity to restore integrity and moral beauty to our world, while contemplating the awe and wonder of our lives, just as they are.

We were introduced to the work of Dacher Keltner and his work on ‘awe’ and the transformative power of every day wonder. There is no doubt that 2023 will be challenging, both for us, our staff and the communities we serve. My invitation to you is to balance these times of relentless turmoil with moments of awe and wonder, turning toward that which keeps us connected with what really matters - our core purpose.

How Mindfulness can help.

Our lives are lived in moments. One breath at a time, one step at a time, one conversation and one action at a time. Mindfulness helps us to catch ourselves, and ‘wake up’ when we are not present for these moments.

If we are not present then our default way of living tends to kick in, and we live as if always about to ‘get somewhere’ as opposed to ‘being here’.

When we are not fully here, we miss the momentary fleeting opportunities to experience moral beauty, awe and wonder. We can so easily lose our reconnection with our core purpose, with what really matters and will endure beyond whatever challenges 2023 brings to our door.

As Rachel Carson the environmental activist says ‘enchantment and wonder is an unfailing antidote to the sometimes disenchantment of these times’.

Here’s how, with some simple practices, we can find a place for daily awe and wonder in 2023 .

Why not, at the start of 2023 make a conscious decision to find moments when you slow down and deliberately invite awe and wonder into your day?

See through the eyes of a child;

Why not take an ‘awe walk’ round schools with a couple of children, opening up your senses to what’s magical, what we love about this school, what makes us smile - then share that with the staff and invite them to do the same. Many leaders I work with have incorporated this into their schedule and have shared the restorative and uplifting nature of the experience.

Take a fresh mindset:

Our sense of wonder can sometimes fade, because our ‘thinking mind’ takes over - analysing and evaluating our experience, so it quickly it becomes common place. Instead why not practice ‘beginner mind’, as if coming to an experience for the very first time with curiosity, perhaps asking ‘what else might I notice here that I am missing?’, ‘what’s intriguing about this’, or ‘how might I stay open to new possibilities beyond my own immediate thoughts and ideas?

Make awe and wonder an everyday experience;

During your day-to-day leadership, when you find yourself caught in ‘disenchantment’, try deliberately turning to that which invites awe and wonder - perhaps a piece of music, a walk into the art room, or a wander round the playground. Consciously savouring everyday wonder is important because it doesn't come naturally and so needs to be cultivated. Negative experiences tend to stand out in our minds, while positive ones can be easily dismissed or forgotten. In order to find renewal in that which is wonderful about leading a school we need to be intentional about reaching for the positive and savouring it.

If you have time to go further, why not listen to this abridged recording from Haenim Sunim of his book ’The things you can only see when you slow down’ In it he explores how those things that make us happy, and invite awe and wonder are experienced more fully when we slow down.