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Happy Hour: Waking Up to Awe

Introduction

So, a warm welcome everyone to Happy Hour. For today's practice, the theme of the practices of the heart, I wanted to invite us to explore this amazing, beautiful, powerful, empowering emotion that is part of the heart qualities. We usually don't talk about it so much in Happy Hour. I think I've talked about it before, maybe a couple of times, I think, but the topic is awe. Having a sense of awe can just be so supportive for opening our hearts, our minds to our life, to this precious human birth, instead of, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, what do I have to do?" or whatever.

We kind of go through life often with our eyes closed, sleepwalking. We sleepwalk through this amazing, incredible being alive, being human. We're so concerned with activities, with the objects of the mind. We're so concerned about the thoughts that arise, about the suffering that arises, about the peace, about what we want, about the desires, about the pushing away, about wanting. We're so concerned with all of that that we become single-visioned, as if we have put blinders on. As if we are in a darkened room with a flashlight, we're just focusing the flashlight on what we want, what we don't want, what we need to get done, the distractions.

So with awe, we get to turn on the light of the whole room. Instead of just turning around with the flashlight, we turn on the light of the whole room and we look around. It's amazing. Not just the objects, but the fact that there is consciousness, there is a mind, there is presence. This being, this aliveness that we take for granted.

I mean, it's amazing that anything exists at all. It's amazing that we exist at all. It's just a miracle. We do and we don't quite... if we really, really sit to think about it, we can't quite understand any of this existing. It's such a miracle. It's a quandary that anything exists at all, that we exist, that we can think and cognize and talk. It's just such a sense of miracle. Even if we have a scientist, materialistic perspective, which is great, even with that, this miracle of consciousness is just not explained. It just cannot be. This feeling of being in this body and being alive is so amazing that if we really take it in, we would want to fall to our knees and kiss the ground for just this amazing... I mean, if we were, say, some other animal and then for a day we were told, "Okay, now you can be human," we'd be like, "Oh, this is amazing! This is incredible!" Whereas we just take it for granted. Wake up in the morning, brush our teeth, whatever, whatever.

Anyway, so awe. Awe can really support us on the path to awakening, on the path to liberation, not suffering, however way putting that works for you. Because when we get too stuck in our ways, we lose track of the bigger picture. It's as if we have this tunnel vision, as I said, as if we're looking through a small hole, and awe allows us to expand our vision. Awe allows us to expand our vision and be more present for our life, and we'll have a more expansive vision. Not get stuck so much, not get stuck in what troubles us, etc.

So you'll discover for yourself, I've said enough to set the frame. So let's explore for ourselves and see what happens. And then one last thing I want to say is, whatever arises or does not arise, be kind to yourself. No need for self-judgment. No need for self-judgment instead of, "Okay, now I want awe. Awe needs to come up." Yeah, maybe it doesn't come up right now. Maybe it's like a shy kitty, we encourage it. Maybe it'll come later tonight, or tomorrow, or sometime this week you're taking a walk in the middle of nature and all of a sudden you're struck by awe. So let yourself swim in these teachings. I mean, awe may not be on demand. We're just planting seeds. We're just planting seeds. Okay, so with that, let's settle. Let's rest.

Guided Meditation

Let's arrive. Arrive each moment, a new arrival in this body. Even if there is unpleasantness, even if there is pain present, arriving. Arriving with open arms, as if we're embracing our minds and embrace whatever is. With fresh eyes, with beginner's eyes in this body. As if you were a Martian, just now you were allowed this privilege of stepping into this human body to experience. Wow, what is it like to be in a human body?

This Martian has a sense of appreciation, novelty, for experiencing all the sensations of this body that is yours. Hello. Taking every surprise with a sense of awe. Every surprise in the mind and the body. Allowing the awareness to connect with the breath. The miracle of this body knowing how to breathe on its own.

Releasing, releasing tightness, tension, holding thoughts. Releasing. Letting there be ease in the belly, in the limbs, in your feet, your sit bones, shoulders. Awareness connecting with the entirety of the breath. Appreciation and awe, as much as it's available. Not pushing, not demanding, but tilling the soil.

What if you were resting in awe? Not so active, but as if it were a warm pool of water. Calming, soothing, inspiring. Holding you, your tired muscles, body, working through you in whatever ways your heart needs to be touched. Maybe this warm pool of water imbued with awe, which you're resting, relaxing into, which you're soaking in, allows your awareness to be imbued with awe. So that whatever comes in contact with awareness, awareness holds whatever thought, whatever sensation there is, awe. A quality of awe. Very subtle, but there.

Awareness receiving the breath, sensations of the breath. The quality of awe is there, receiving. Awareness imbued, intertwined with awe, receiving the objects of the mind and the body. Don't try too hard, let it be relaxed, at ease. Your practice, just sitting and being breathed.

Amazing, the thoughts arise on their own. Pretty amazing. That sensations are sensed on their own. Notice no effort is needed, it's just happening on its own. Rolling, rolling on and on, the field of experience sensed and known.

If you find mind is thinking, no need for judgment. Be in awe that thoughts arise on their own, seemingly with no control, they just arise. Pretty amazing. Bring awe, not judgment, to your awareness.

I'd like to suggest some invitations, like to consider this body of ours is made of cells. So many living cells that communicate, interact, we're alive. Our immune system, a marvel of ingenuity, communicating, repairing, remembering, so many brilliant mechanisms. This body that we don't quite understand, both personally and the state of the art of science. Our gut, filled with so many other bacteria that are helpful, that we wouldn't be able to live or digest food if it wasn't for this host of helpful, healthy bacteria that isn't us. Not us. Different genome. Pretty amazing. This body we take to be ours is a miracle of nature.

Our brain, all the synapses, the connections, the way it works, the neurotransmitters all amazingly balanced. Being able to remember, see, act, hear, smell, just amazing. Right here. Instead of focusing on something going wrong with the body—"Why is it not working? Why do I have pain?"—so amazingly incredible that it works as well as it does, it has all these years. Internally, a sense of awe.

Externally, a sense of awe. Magnificent interconnection between so many beings. Our lives we live because of work, generosity, kindness of so many beings, past and present. Their ingenuity, their service. And to expand even further, looking as if we were looking up into the night sky, we are on this planet called Earth. So many stars, so many galaxies. Such an incredible privilege to be alive, to be conscious even for a brief moment in time, to have the opportunity to have agency, to think, to serve, to love, to give. How awesome is that? How awesome is that?

Resting in awe, opening our hearts to awe for this magnificent being who is us, who is me, with intentions, goodness, kindness, in ways we understand and we don't quite understand. This amazing interconnected world.

And for the last minutes of this practice period, feeling the body, connecting with the breath. The body, this amazing body knows what to do, breathing, being alive. May all beings everywhere, including us, be in touch at least now and then with the amazing nature of their minds and their bodies to help open up the realization to awakening. May all beings everywhere be free.

Reflections and Q&A

Thank you all, thank you for your practice. I have some time if there are any reflections, questions, comments. And again, as I said at the beginning, this might be planting seeds, so if awe didn't arise, it's okay, you're planting seeds.

Student: One reflection. Your comment about walking through life with our eyes closed reminded me of a saying from the Ojibwe: "Sometimes I go about pitying myself, and all the while I am being carried across the sky by beautiful clouds."

Nikki: Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that, that is lovely. I'll read the quote again from Ojibwe: "Sometimes I go about pitying myself, and all the while I'm being carried across the sky by beautiful clouds." Yes, great reminder.

Appreciation coming from YouTube. Thank you, you're welcome. Any other reflections, what might have come up for you in this practice? Offering it for the benefit of others, if there were any aha moments. Jamie.

Jamie: Just a question, Nikki. Awe seems to me in some way related to gratitude, but I'm not sure how. Can you comment on the relationship between them?

Nikki: Yeah. They're related, but they're not the same. Actually, before you mute yourself, let me ask you, let me turn it back to you. What comes up for you as you've explored this? How is this question coming up? Let's explore it together.

Jamie: I think that I have a more capacity to feel awe if I'm in regular practice of being in touch with gratitude.

Nikki: Okay, okay. And can you tell... so if you're more in touch with gratitude, it allows you to have awe. And how do they qualitatively feel different for you, if I ask you, to the extent it's available?

Jamie: Well, I'll steal something from the writer Anne Lamott. You know, her paradigm is Christian, but she said that there's basically three prayers which are Help, Thanks, and Wow. So awe is the third.

Nikki: Yes, yes. Nice, nice. It's not Help, it's not Thanks (which is the second one, gratitude), and it's Wow. So as I feel into my own experience then, to share, gratitude feels like an appreciation, opening of the heart, a thanking. There's a personal relationship with gratitude. I am grateful for this, I am thankful. Whereas awe takes us out of ourselves. That's perhaps how we compare the two. Awe takes us out of ourselves, it's just, "Wow! Wow. Wow." Not from me and mine, but just, "Wow, this is amazing." Whereas gratitude is more a personal relationship with gifts and goodness. So that's something to explore, perhaps. Thank you.

Deborah says, "But there's also a way that after a while, you often find thanks." Oh yeah, that's true too. There you go. Wow, yeah, could be.

One more reflection here: "How does discernment work in this context? It seems like you are allowing everything." Yeah, this is a very good question. It's yes, allowing everything, which in many ways actually is the sense of open awareness. When sati^[1] is open, there's a sense of open awareness. Don't put away anything. Don't push away anything, just open to everything. Awe allows us, it tills the soil for us to open to everything.

Claire says, "Suggest reading A Brief History of Time." Yes, that's a great book. Claire, I see your hand. Is that what you wanted to say? Is there anything else? You can either unmute or stay muted. Okay, I think you're not unmuting, either you can't or you don't want to. I hear your lips moving...

Gita says, "Is it appropriate to say that awe is a sensation not dependent on thinking?" Yes, it is appropriate to say that awe is a sensation. I mean, reflection can bring it up, but it's not dependent on thinking. We can just sit with awe without thinking.

Claire, looks like you succeeded!

Claire: I finally got unlocked here, I'm having huge technology problems tonight! But the reason I thought of that book immediately when you started the topic because Stephen Hawking was in such awe of the universe as a brilliant physicist. But the other thing that was really awesome was that he had Lou Gehrig's disease and he did all this while he was totally immobile. I mean, he could barely speak, and yet he produced one of the most brilliant books of all time, and to me that's just awesome.

Nikki: There you go, there's awe right there. And there's a movie of it if anybody's interested, it's beautiful. Thank you, Claire. Yes, just expressing his awe for what he had discovered. Thanks, Claire.

So yes, speaking of awe, let's have awe that we have come together here on Zoom and YouTube and listening on AudioDharma later. Here we are, these amazing human beings just like us, want to practice, want to wake up, want to align their heart, their actions with their best intentions.

So as we move to the next part of our time together in small groups, what I would like to ask you is to first of all speak from your own experience. Not commenting, not managing the group, just stay close to your own experience. And you are welcome to share what came up for you or hold silence, say "pass." Each person has the opportunity to share one nugget. If ten things came up for you, just share one and then pass it on to the next person. We'll go reverse alphabetical order. The next person will say something or say "pass", and then it will go around a few times. Again, just speak from your own experience, not managing or facilitating. It's a way of sharing your own awesomeness. Even if you don't think there is much awesomeness, you are awesome. You're a human being, this is pretty incredible, and holding other people's awesomeness.

I'm going to create the rooms now. Oh, yes, the Einstein quote! I've had this as my signature for many, many years: "You can live your life as if nothing is a miracle, or as if everything is a miracle." Exactly. So I'm suggesting you live your life as if everything is a miracle, because everything is a miracle! So I will open the rooms now. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other. Here we go.

[Breakout rooms occur]

Welcome back, everyone. The rooms are closed and we have just about a couple of minutes for any reflections that came up while you were in the room. So I'd love to hear from you what came up. You can either type in chat if you like or raise your hand if you haven't spoken. What did you notice, any insights you'd like to share?

Catherine says, "I notice that I'm always smiling when I come back from breakout groups." How awesome! Yes, how awesome is that indeed, Catherine. And so many people too, yes, I see thumbs up, I see hearts, I see lots of smiles. It's very sweet. So heartwarming. How awesome is that? Connecting with other beings.

Mary says, "Grateful for small groups and Nikki." I'm so grateful that you all come together and support each other, co-creating this sacred space for practice. How awesome is that?

Yeah, so on that note of awe for our small sanghas^[2], our small breakout groups, let's bring our practice to a close tonight. Thank you so much for practicing, cultivating your heart for your own sake, for the sake of all beings. May all beings be well, may all beings be free, including ourselves. Thanks, everyone.