This is a teaching on activities to cultivate your reverence.
These activities benefit from being done with full attention or presence.
I advise you to engage in some of these activities regularly to enhance your reverence.
The first is to spend time in nature.
Some research suggests that even two hours a week in nature enhances well-being.
Aristotle reportedly once said,
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Connection with nature is essential for our well-being.
Nature triggers awe,
Probably more than any other experience.
When you're in nature,
Simply be in nature.
Let the mind still.
Pay careful attention to the senses.
Take a presence walk.
Note sights and sounds,
Smells and the feeling of walking.
See and hear everything as if for the first time.
Let go of ideas of beauty and ugly.
Just notice what you experience without judgment.
Note the vastness of your environment.
Look at the sky.
Look at the clouds above.
When you see a rainbow,
Stop and savor it.
There are many ways to savor nature.
You can go on a hike or sit in a park.
You can watch sunsets and sunrises or spend time at the ocean or by a lake.
Another reverence practice is to listen to music.
Listening to music can cultivate reverence and joy.
Another is to view art.
Great art can expire awe.
Museums are a good option for viewing art.
Art appreciation classes can also inspire joy and awe.
Another practice is to watch inspiring performances.
This could be sports or dance or theater or rock concerts or any other venue where people give awe-inspiring performances of beauty,
Grace and skill.
Another source is poetry and literature.
Poetry in particular can convey the truth that cannot be conceptualized or spoken.
Poetry often reveals the hidden truth and beauty that we take for granted.
Another practice is to take in the stars.
When you want to get a grounded perspective on your life,
Go out and look at the night sky.
Take in the stars.
Consider the vastness of the universe.
Consider our tiny place in this vastness.
Consider the infinitude of space in our expanding universe.
Reflect on the fact that the light we see from some stars left that star hundreds of thousands of years ago,
If not millions or billions of years ago.
Another practice is to contemplate the blue marble.
Google the blue marble.
As you consider this image of the earth from space,
Sense the folly of human conceits,
As Carl Sagan once noted.
Sense our oneness and our utter dependence upon the life system of our tiny planet.
Another source is spiritual reading.
Reading spiritual literature inspires ways of considering life and reality that are infused with love and reverence.
Another practice is to look out for awe and inspiration.
Keep an eye out for awe-inspiring stories of love and courage and virtue.
The story of Nelson Mandela's life is one such example.
Let the lives of others who have overcome trauma and hardship inspire you.
Let the examples of greatness all around you be a light to guide and support your healing and growth.
Another practice is to study reality.
My first awakening to reverence was in the study of biology.
Any field of study can provoke awe at the vastness and complexity,
The miracle and the mystery of this amazing universe.
Another practice is to slow down and do one thing at a time.
The practice of careful attending is aided by slowing down and doing one thing at a time.
Slowing down also allows for the savoring of this existence moment by moment.
Linger on the moment.
Take breaks.
Pause.
Stop frequently and look around.
Attend.
Note that you are seeing and hearing and sensing.
Let go of the rushiness.
Stop the tendency to tumble forward into the future.
Literally slow down on the road.
Ask yourself if it matters if you get home five minutes earlier.
Welcome moments of waiting in lines as opportunities to really stop and appreciate the miracle of existence.
In general,
Slow down as much as you can in everything you do.
Another practice is to travel.
Travel introduces novelty into our lives and expands our perspectives.
It's another way to experience the awe-inspiring vastness of our planet and the life on it.
Another practice is called first time last time.
In your attending practice,
Imagine each act as if you were doing it for both the first and last time.
Brushing your teeth and washing your face in the morning,
Getting dressed,
Eating breakfast,
Driving to work,
And so on.
Attend to experience with the fresh eyes of a child.
This practice helps you to be present with this moment rather than lost and feeling.
Rather than lost in thought.
It opens up perceptual experience,
Pulling down a bit of the perceptual filters that block out the routine from awareness.
Another practice is to spend time unplugged.
We know that the more time you spend on a screen or watching TV,
The more vulnerable you will be to depression.
Screen time,
Including TV,
Degrades here and now engagement with this world and with others.
We know that overall happiness in the U.
S.
Has fallen in large part due to teens and young adults trading social connection for screen time.
I hope these reverence practices will help you in your practice of cultivating your reverence for this miracle of existence.
