Someone asked me the other day, “What is the secret to a long and happy life?”
“That’s easy,” I replied, without missing a beat. “Be continuously amazed.”
I believe it was the philosopher Franz Kafka who once wrote that we are happiest in youth because we have the capacity to see without the hindrance of having grown old. As children, our senses are drawn to that which is always new. We pause to reflect; we take it all in – every last bit.
We don’t just see the acorn, we wonder how far it’s fallen and whether it will become ‘tree’ once again.
‘Familiarity is our anesthetic’, dimming the light of our inner being.
To wonder, to ask – my darlings, these are life’s greatest riches. To take the time to appreciate this miracle of our senses.
We don’t grow old for want of wonder, my loves. We grow old for lack of wondering why.