If you’ve been lucky enough to encounter a new-born or recently born baby you have seen their wonder with the world. To them everything is new. There is more than a simple glance or looking at the world around them. It’s as if they are soaking it all up. Babies, especially brand new ones, are totally open. They are curious and filled with wonder all at once.
Watching and interacting with them can teach us so many things about how we approach life. Just how open to the experience of life are we? I’m afraid the answer is: not so much. Rarely do I encounter someone who is unguarded, curious and filled with wonder. I include myself in that description. We all have closed ourselves off in some way. I’m not sure quite why. Perhaps we strive to hold ourselves back from the pain that life can sometimes bring. I am discovering that while we guard from the pain, we also miss the wonder of being. Babies have this joy of being intuitively.
I’ve met a couple of people who have this way of being. They are the ones who have been to the bottom, the depths of despair and found a way out. They too see with new eyes. Life is not taken so much for granted. They have learned that you can’t always guard yourself from living, from pain, from the depths, so they don’t try to any more. These people know that they can rise from the ashes and experience life in a new way. Such people are wide open because when they were broken, light permeated all of their being. They can no longer remain closed, they chose not to be that way. By doing so they see things most of us miss. They see the wonder, the beauty and feel the radiance of life in everything. By being open and seeing with new eyes they become full.
I find myself studying them and babies as I begin to open more fully. I challenge you to let down your guard too. Who knows what we might find!
