Moments of Awe and Wonder Make Life More Effortless and Fulfilling

I was in my late fourties, living near Ottawa, and had been working for a government scientific organisation for twenty-five years. One bitterly cold winter morning my boss called me into his office and offered me a promotion. In spite of the fact that it was a position that a golden-handcuffed public servant like me was expected to covet, the moment it was offered, I had a contrarian epiphany. The words Fuck Fear lit up my brain and a sense of knowing overcame me. Rather than gratefully accepting the job and pulling on my forelock in gratitude, I stood up, walked out of his office, went straight home, and told my wife; “I’m going to sell everything we own, pull our kids out of school, and home-school them in a hut in the jungle on the edge of the sea cliffs of Hawaii. You can come if you want.” That is a direct quote. My wife just looked at me with furrowed brow and softly said; “OK.”

Not surprisingly, when friends and neighbours learned what I had planned to do, they expressed their reservations. Actually, it was more than that: they tried talking me out of it. Why would I do something like this when I had “made it” in a traditional sense, with a beautiful wife and two beautiful sons and a good career and a nice house in the country? I understood this thinking. It was logical. But what I came to learn later was that not only did my friends think I was nuts, they thought me heritical to their own way of life and beliefs. More about this later.

In any case, what appeared to be an irrational and selfish decision of someone in full mid-life crisis turned out to be the start of a brave experiment and the best decision I ever made for my family and I. It catalysed an immediate reaction that led to a change in the way that I make choices in life. I transitioned from living nearly completely in my head to engaging my instincts. This novel approach subsequently made life far more effortless and fulfilling.

I want to share this extrordinary story of what happened to me as a result of that moment of epiphany and to recall other times in my life where there was a clearly definable instant when my world view shifted. In hindsight, these moments primed me for the more profound opportunities that were to follow.

Some of these stories are very relatable — like falling in romantic love or seeing your child being born. Others are a bit more adventerous and aesoteric — like the time I visited an isolated tribe in an Indonesia jungle in order to witness shamanic magic.

On the other hand, my stories have nothing to do with war, violence, or political intrigue. Nothing about celebrities or becoming wealthy. No religion or proselytizing. I’m just an ordinary guy with the extraordinary luck of being alive in a land of plenty, presented with opportunity, and grateful just to have been born. In fact, the odds that any of us exist at all are so astronomically, mind bogglingly, small that one has to wonder why awe and wonder isn’t a baseline state of the human condition.

I hope my stories inspire readers to say to themselves Fuck Fear and begin their own transition from head to heart.

More importantly, I hope that my sons read this blog and come to understand a little bit more about their dad and to take from my stories the lessons that I learned. These stories were written for you. I love you both more than anything, and as my father once wrote to me – “you make my life worthwhile.”