Life seems as though it should have meaning and purpose, but no such goals are inherent to this process called life, to the organic assemblage of matter referred to as self. We are conceived out of love, attraction, or biological urge; and, if we’re lucky, we get to live our lives with those same forces of love, attraction, and biological urge. Many of us are hindered in these natural forms of living by circumstance or maltreatment from others, which can create difficulty and bitterness toward existence. 

Perhaps a goal more useful than meaning or purpose is the pursuit of joy and wonder. Even small acts can be imbued with the wonder of being a body capable of performing such acts. Find joy wherever you can: watching wild birds, life in a tidepool, listening to the ocean, gazing at the constant flow of a river, clouds speeding by overhead in bursts of wind, or fixed in place on a hot summer day.

Allow yourself to be drawn to moments of joy. Stop and really look at that sunrise happening right before you as you head in to work. Stop, look. Slow your thoughts. Take it in; be amazed; be awed. Then continue to your work day obligations, which you do to eat and have a place to sleep. Carry the beauty of that sunrise with you. Look for smiles from unexpected places. Do the work you need to do to survive, and allow yourself all opportunities to experience whatever joy and wonder you can find. Do this for yourself, not for anyone or anything else. Experience wonder as though it is what keeps you alive. Your sustenance, the very thing that keeps you moving forward.

We have not all been given the opportunity to perform work that we love, but we all have the ability to experience wonder at both small and mighty things. This wonder may be our true lifeblood.

It is said that humans are social creatures, but many of us live our lives mostly alone. Relationships don’t work out, children grow and move away, friendships fail. Perhaps in our aloneness we can learn to wonder and embrace the many parts of our own organism and the many biological organisms that make us. We contain many parts working together, and we can wonder at their co-existence or their struggles at symbiosis.

We are more than our meat suits. We are an assemblage of multiple life forms functioning together for survival. Surely that is something to inspire wonder. Wonder at that as you delight in your first morning coffee, as you slip on your work shoes, as you head out the door, as the sunrise takes your breath for just a beat. Wonder at your heartbeat as the tailgater behind you finally drives around you and you can relax your body’s threat alert. Wonder and look at the sky, the last star before light, the wind rustling the treetops, the red tail hawk circling overhead. All of this makes the patchwork that is an organism’s efforts at survival.

on window view at the local art center: implanted memories of foraging (memory hacking the non-human entity). feeling honored.

doodle has energy as though it’s about to take flight