A year filled with wonder!

December 4 – Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

The first thing I did before I wanted to answer this question was to look up the definition of the word "wonder". In the dictionary is is defined as:

a cause of astonishment or admiration; rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience

This year started off with the ending to what has proven to be the hardest thing I have ever had to go through in my entire life...divorce. I know I haven't really addressed this time in my life specifically on my blog and I am not sure I will ever go in to very much detail because it is such a personal event and time period in my life..to speak openly about it burns my soul and spirit in ways that are indescribable. So, after going through a long, tough couple of years the end had finally been reached and the divorce was final within the first few days of the new year.

I was left with an entire year to gain back my sense of wonder in the world. This entire last year was just simply that...a year about searching for ways to cultivate wonder again in my life. It started with finding the wonder again in myself...that is never as easy at it sounds, but i think by stepping outside the experiences of the past and remembering all of the amazing things still left in my life I slowly started to realize I was still a pretty great person that had a lot to offer and I still had a lot of life left in me!

I will probably always be working on finding the wonder in myself completely...but the thing that is easier for me to see is the wonder in everyday life. This past year I seriously walked around finding wonder in EVERYTHING! I marveled, admired, and felt complete astonishment at the friendships I had and still have, I went on dates and found the wonder in meeting new people even if they weren't what I was looking for, I found the wonder in random things like snow...its so beautiful if you really stop and stand in it looking straight up into the sky and let it fall all over you: perfect! I found the wonder in becoming vegetarian...trying different foods and actually liking them!

This past year was all about cultivating a sense of wonder and in doing so I am pretty sure I fell back in love with myself and my life...which is a pretty great thing to do!