On Becoming a “Wonder Up”

Have you noticed how there seem to be a lot of “groan ups” in the world? Groan ups live, as my friend, Kathryn Jeffers says, on the dark side of the moon; they always see what’s wrong with the picture, not what’s right. Groan ups pull us down with them. I have known some who feel morally obligated to let us know not only what’s wrong with this picture, but what’s wrong with us too in more detail than I wanted to know! Have you ever noticed that you don’t feel really well around groan ups?

The solution is to become a “wonder up” and to hang around “wonder ups.” Wonder ups see what’s right in this world. Find a partner and for sixty seconds rattle off to your partner all the things in your work and home that you are grateful for. The other person simply repeats, “Tell more more.” And then reverse it.

In workshops, I then tell the group about a time a few years ago while doing some training in Alaska in January that I saw a photograph in the Anchorage Times that touched me. It was of a young boy about twelve years old holding a can of unmarked food that he had received off a relief truck. On his face was the biggest smile I had ever seen. He was so happy to have this can of food. I then ask the people in the workshop, “How many of you counted the food in your kitchen cupboards among the things in your life that you are grateful for?” It is the rare person who does. Why is that? Over and over people say, “Because we take the food for granted.” Are there other things and people in your life that you take for granted?

Keep a journal for just one month. Before going to sleep at night, write down five things that you were grateful for that day. If you get stuck, walk outside and look up at the moon and the stars. Give thanks for the legs that took you there, for the eyes that allow you to see the magnificence of the earth, and the smiles of your loved ones. There are at least five there already. Look at the people and things in your life with wonder. They will become new and fresh. When we become a wonder up we give thanks for the many blessings in our life, and we are more well.