WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
There Is Nothing Ordinary
Osprey & Heron Share a Rainbow
“Every single day I come across magic” Bernard Brom
One of the definitions for being in awe speaks to “feeling a powerful mix of amazement, respect, and wonder when you encounter something vast, grand, or extremely powerful.”
In my experience definitions often seem to be linear and disembodied, when in reality a word(s) can hold so many unique and wild experiences all clambering to be held in a single moment in time. Why confine a word to follow rules when being in awe or wonder is experienced differently for each of us. It doesn’t have to be vast, grand or powerful.
We may take the ordinary in any one day or moment for granted until we realize that none of it is “ordinary” when we are fully present and aware.
In the extraordinary image at the top of this post the photographer shared that she did not notice she had captured a heron on the less bright right side of the tree as she was so focused on the osprey and the rainbow light on the left. After having taken the picture she realized with complete awe and wonder what she had done.
This leaves me with the question, how often are we so focused on one aspect or part of a moment and miss the whole?
Early Morning Writing Practice
An early morning daily writing practice with fountain pen in hand gazing out at the darkness before the light emerges. A magic time. Listening to the cricket orchestra through the open windows, allowing the cool air of one of the last days of summer to infiltrate into the spaces of home sanctuary. Peace and a sense of belonging to something much greater and vast emerges through the luminosity of the candle flame on the table. The mystery yet to unfold…
Nature’s Gifts
Awe can be experienced in the magic and beauty of any single moment while being fully present to something as ordinary as a completely white caterpillar crossing a trail at a local nature park on an early morning walk. Moments spent hunkered down closer to the ground taking in all aspects of this unusual lack of pigment creature. On that same walk a bobcat streaked across the path not far in front of me, a rare occurrence in this midtown park.
I wonder what stories they would tell?
Being fully present in the momentary experience. That is where improvisational openness to the mystery of life creates connection and awareness.
Relationships
A decision to make a call to my brother in San Diego the day before his birthday and not have an “exit strategy” as I most often did because of the often long conversations that ensued when talking to him. Instead, fully present, I listened with complete attention and compassion and received something I had not before.
How much he needed to simply have someone he cares about, and who loves him, really get how challenging it is for him on his daily journey with metastatic prostate cancer. A gift that cost nothing except being fully present.
As we hung up from each other he said with a shaky voice close to tears, “I really needed this conversation. Thank You!” Extraordinarily simple magic by remaining open in our moments together with the felt acknowledgement that we all experience pain, suffering and challenges.
Animals of All Kinds
Opening the front door this morning I stood in awe of our visitors seen through my screen door. They did not stay long, especially when I opened the screen, but in those few moments when they gifted me with their presence I felt chosen to be a part of their morning.
Particular Small Dogs
Penny, a miniature 15-year-old blind and deaf Dachshund, inspires all who meet her with her resilience, adaptability and curiosity. In a single moment at the park a young girl gazes in wonder at such a small dog and asks if she can pet her. Instructed on how to approach her, first with hand smelling while promising her she would get hand kisses, then she could pet her. The child’s smile was dazzling as she received the licks of love. Ordinary but extraordinary when all the focus was in the moment of connection.
Police Chiefs
…and when this doggie decided (a girl must take care of herself after all!) she would become a friend to Summer, the Chief of Police with a firearm on her hip in our small mountain town of Weaverville, NC
Anything is possible when you recognize that nothing is “ordinary”….
….. when fully present with expanded awareness.
And then there is the fairy house placed by an unknown entity between the trees at the Weaverville Nature Park. Magic would say that the fairies built it one dark night when no one was about. What do you think?
I invite you to watch the short video below as 84-year-old retired physician, Bernard Brom, asks the question every day…
“Can I live fully in the now enjoying the presence of this great mystery. That is what I am here for. Death is sacred and is everywhere. I haven’t come to the end of life but the beginning full of a sense of awe and wonder.”
“At this time of year, when everything seems louder and faster, there’s something quietly radical about slowing down enough to really notice. To look closely. To stay curious. To remember that wonder isn’t something we grow out of — it’s something we practice.
This is a gentle reflection on attention, patience, and the small moments that so easily go unseen. A reminder that even in an ordinary day, there is still mystery at work, still magic if we’re willing to pause and meet it.”
Note: This was filmed at the holidays last year and why the reference “At this time of year…”
Featuring Bernard Brom – www.creatinghealth.co.za
Filmed in Noordhoek, South Africa.
Justine and Michael. x Reflections of Life
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Gaye Abbott, Wildly Free Elder, 09/01/2026