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That is indeed a fascinating fact, that these birds or fishes doing the murmurations, are only keeping tabs of 7 of its immediate neighbours. And yet, they are able to move harmoniously with thousands involved, creating wonderful forms together. I also read that somehow, we can find a common connection with any body in the world, in at the latest, only 6 levels. The hypothesis suggests that any two people on Earth can be connected through a chain of acquaintances (or "friends") with no more than five intermediaries (resulting in six links or "degrees"). So, you (1) know someone (2) who knows someone (3)... and so on, until person (6) knows the target person. In FaceBook they even shrank this connectios to only 4 degrees. We live in a "small world" socially. Maybe it is hightime we take real and active notice of the seven individuals beside us, so that we, too, can murmurate and create a harmonious world for everybody.

Nothing, except death, is certain in this life. We can try and make the most meticulous of plans, and yet there is never a 100% guarantee that everything will work out as hoped for. Maybe the plan will work, maybe it won't. Should we then just surrender to fate? Maybe?

I think I am pretty good at listening to others, if I put my mind to it. And that is a big IF. Most of the time, I would think I can "read" people already. No need to listen to what they are saying. I would tend to pre-judge others, without even giving them the benefit of the doubt. Thanks for this reminder, Paula. I will try to really pay attention and listen; I want to hear what the Universe is saying.

You summed it up wonderfully, Katie! Our capacity to wonder is indeed the penultimate wonder and is a miracle. The fact that we can consciously appreciate the unfathomable beauty of nature and life never ceases to amaze me.

Thanks for this inspiring article. I am in the process of learning to accept and love what is. The long conditioning and social pressure is not easy to overcome, though.

I am currently umemployed. Our car did not pass the last inspection. The boiler of the heating system of our house is not working. Amidst this streak of unfortunate events, I am still grateful that we have a house to live in with flowing drinking water. Though I miss the long, hot showers, I still am able to wash myself in relative comfort. We eat three meals a day. We have a bed to sleep on. Electricity and intenet connection are available. So many things that we normally take for granted! I am glad that through my current "harships", I am made more aware of my good blessings. For that I am eternally grateful🙏

Often times, because things go "our way" we tend to become proud and start to believe that we are the masters of our destiny. A self-made person. And then reality kicks in. By the whim of fate we are struck by some higher forces of nature. Disease, unemployment or death of someone dear and relevant. The rational mind will try to make firewood out of the lightning struck tree as soon as possible. However, as Toko Pa Turner suggests "we need to let ourselves be disoriented first". In so doing, a new perpective may be gained. There is hidden wisdom and even beauty and wonder in what appears to be a calamity.

A-HA-M. In-breath - Out-breath - End. The cycle of breathing. And that this same combination of sounds „aham“ is the Sanskrit word for the pronoun „I“, is beautiful. Thank you for sharing this. What I remember about this Sanskrit word is the phrase that goes "Aham Brahmasmi“. And knowing its etymology, makes it even more profound. The direct translation of this term stems from three Sanskrit roots: Aham, meaning "I" Brahma, a name for the Hindu creator god which can also be translated as "divine" or "sacred" Asmi, meaning "am". (Quoted from yogapedia.com / aham-brahmasmi) "I am the breath of life, the spirit soul emanating from Brahma (God)“. 🙏Namaste🙏

I totally agree that we have to learn to trust the unfathomable ways through which life unfolds. And I know deep inside that I should be grateful for the opportunities to witness the wonders at every moment; we only have to choose the right perspective. Nonetheless, we are also here to evolve and grow. I think the real challenge is to know when to act and when to wait in patience. Unlike the seed, we humans are given choices. In every turn, each of our decisions inevitably alters what we would next encounter.

What a fascinating discourse! "What we experience is built from the brain’s predictions, or 'best guesses,' about the causes of sensory signals." The German word for perception is "Wahrnehmung" . Its etymological roots are "Wahr" - truth and "nehmen" - to take. So what I perceive is my take of the truth. The reality is what I make of what I sense through my eyes, ears, nose, taste and feel. Everything is based on my perspetive. And the mind interprets all these inputs based on learned biases from socio and cultural influences. No wonder we have so many misunderstandings! If we can learn to comprehend that our views may not always be shared by others, that the views of others could in fact also be "logical" and "rational"… What we know or think we know should humble us enough to admit how little we actually know.

Dear Suleika, thank you for sharing your difficult journey; how you learned to look through it and saw the true gems of life. At such a young age. Suffering, hardships and pain are essential in probably all growth transformations. People want to avoid difficulties. However, some are inevitable. In such cases, how we deal with the situation is crucial. You faced your challenge bravely! Godspeed and continue to share the jewels that you find.

I am currently learning fullstack web development coding. My teacher, who is almost young enough to be my grandson (I am 62 years old and he is just 27), said "errors in coding are not bad; they are in fact our friends". Mistakes happen to everybody. No one is perfect. Fairly assessing the work of a student is essential. Otherwise, how would he or she learn? However, grading someone's work is almost tantamount to judging their worth as a person. Which is why I find it heartwarming that the author of this article takes the time to sit down and talk with is students so that they can better understand the situation. "so that the student understands their dignity has not been tarnished even though their work has been justly assessed". On behalf of your students who may not have grasp it yet, thank you 🙏 Godspeed and shalom!

„Love. Love. Love. Love is all we need.“ Part of the lyrics from a song of The Beatles. Many songs and poems and essays talk about the importance of love. In fact, the word love is probably being used by most people all over the world; however, the word love is being used to convey so many different meanings. „I love your cake! It is delicious. How did you find the movie? I love it! I love you (as in I want to go to bed with you). Love for money is the root of all evil.“ Maybe I have to examine first what I think love love means to me before I start using it to move others. I think, how we understand love is essential to what our actions will be. Agape. Unconditional love. Regardless of the situation or the people. To serve and to share whatever with each other as an expression of gratitude for being alive and witness to the wonders of life and nature. I would love to see this happen!

I reflected on the phrase "Proceed as way opens or As way opens". To me, this does not only encourage me to take a pause and listen to my heart. I would say, that the phrase means it makes more sense to proceed when the way is free of obstacles. It would be a lot easier to proceed if the way is open. One can also of course open the door or the gate. It is something like, if a fruit is ripe, not only will it be easier to pluck, but if it is ready for picking, "the way is open", it will taste much better.

Coming across this article is another of those serendipities that truly amazes me. I've been doing some kind of meditation for some time sporadically Sometimes more dilligent and consistent for a while. And then I would stop. Frustrated that I did not become "enlightened" after all those hours I've put into it. Then about five years ago, I had a burnout. I was ontreatment and theraphy for more than a year. During this time, I was re-introduced to mindfulness meditation. I learned different techniques. But the one that I stilluse is the Mindfulness App with Melli O'Brien. It is actually a straight forward breathing observationmeditation. In fact, I was quite sceptical at the beginning because I was honestly not very comfortable with her girlish voice. There are other mentors in that app. And I alo tried some of them. But then I thought, if I want to do this long term, I should stick to a method and not try evrything but continue with none. So I stuck with Melli. I became accustomed with her voice. Starting with 5 minute morning and evening meditations everyday. Now, after more than five years of continues mindfulness meditation, a thought came to me the other day. What if the third eye that is supposed to open if one becomes enlightened is actually the eye of awareness? I have been noticing more and more wonders in my everday life. Starting with the realization, what a fascinating phenomena our breathing actually is!

Thanks for sharing your reflections Amy. It is those magical moments through which, even though we are still faceing our life's challenges and difficulties, we feel the joy and are trully grateful. The small wonders that help us see things in a much more open heart. Shalom and godspeed!

"...gratefulness is more than giving thanks. Thanking comes with thinking. Gratefulness happens before thinking — in that brief gap between “the dust of snow” and thought. It is the spontaneous response of the human heart to the gratuitously given." I have to chew on that thought for a while before I can swallow it. Gratefulness is more than giving thanks. Greatefulness is a spontaneous response to something pleasant. May be not necessarily be while something is happening. In fact, I may feel frustrated and even angry about something while being at the moment of it happening. Then later on, it can turn out that because of the very thing that upset me a while back, I realize later that I have been spared a much worse situation. Recently, my car won't start after a coffee break at a resting place along the highway. I still had a few kilometers to cover and I wanted to make it before dark. I reported my problem to our auto club online. After a long wait, my phone rang. I tried to answer it immeadiately. But the connection was broken after only two rings! I cursed. Then I tried to start the car again. No more problem, this time. We were able to continue with our drive. But just a couple of kilometers later, we got stuck on a stillstand traffic. It turns out that there was a very bad accident that just occured involving at least four vehicles. The whole four lane highway on our direction of travel had to be closed to rescue the victims and clean up the mess of the carambolage. We got stuck there for 3 and a half hours. Looking back, I felt grateful that my car did not start immediately after our coffee break. Otherwise we would be right smack at the location where the accident occured. The feeling of gratefulness was there spontaneously. I was able to "enjoy" our being stucked in traffic. I took pictures of the orderly lined up vehicles along the highway. It was my first time to get off and walk on the "Autobahn" in Germany. I talked with so... [View Full Comment] "...gratefulness is more than giving thanks. Thanking comes with thinking. Gratefulness happens before thinking — in that brief gap between “the dust of snow” and thought. It is the spontaneous response of the human heart to the gratuitously given." I have to chew on that thought for a while before I can swallow it. Gratefulness is more than giving thanks. Greatefulness is a spontaneous response to something pleasant. May be not necessarily be while something is happening. In fact, I may feel frustrated and even angry about something while being at the moment of it happening. Then later on, it can turn out that because of the very thing that upset me a while back, I realize later that I have been spared a much worse situation. Recently, my car won't start after a coffee break at a resting place along the highway. I still had a few kilometers to cover and I wanted to make it before dark. I reported my problem to our auto club online. After a long wait, my phone rang. I tried to answer it immeadiately. But the connection was broken after only two rings! I cursed. Then I tried to start the car again. No more problem, this time. We were able to continue with our drive. But just a couple of kilometers later, we got stuck on a stillstand traffic. It turns out that there was a very bad accident that just occured involving at least four vehicles. The whole four lane highway on our direction of travel had to be closed to rescue the victims and clean up the mess of the carambolage. We got stuck there for 3 and a half hours. Looking back, I felt grateful that my car did not start immediately after our coffee break. Otherwise we would be right smack at the location where the accident occured. The feeling of gratefulness was there spontaneously. I was able to "enjoy" our being stucked in traffic. I took pictures of the orderly lined up vehicles along the highway. It was my first time to get off and walk on the "Autobahn" in Germany. I talked with some of the other drivers. Although we were inconvinienced by the unexpected halt and long pause on our drive (most of us simply going home after a long day's work), we were all thankful that we were not involved in the accident directly.[Hide Full Comment]

We have a lot to learn from indigenous tribes. One time I was inside the forest of Mindoro in the Philippines when I came to a peak along the path. Since it was a strenuous hike, it was but natural to take a pause and enjoy the panorama below. Apparently, this was also true for the natives. Not before long a tribesman also arrived at the peak. He was wearing a g-string, carrying a spear / walking stab. He was also a bit surprised to find me there. But he did not say a word. He simply squatted there in silence. After a short interval, another native arrived at the peak. Just like the other man, the 2nd indigenous tribesman was also just wearing a g-string. He was also a bit surprised to encounter a city fellow but did not say anything. So we all sat there in silence for a few minutes. I did not say anything because I do not know their language. They were contented with the silence. After some time, one of the men pulled out a small bamboo container holding tobacco. He rolled a cigarette using a leaf. While smoking, he was looking at his bamboo container. It was with some written text I could not decipher. They have their own language and unique alphabet. Then he gave the container to the other man who started to look at it. The second man also produced his small bamboo container with text engraved on it and gave it to the 1st man. Both were quietly reading and contemplating the texts written on each others tabacco container. There I was witnessing a deep communication in silence. Not a word was spoken. And yet I felt their deep connection with each other. Each left one after the other without exchanging a word. I later found out that those texts are the owner‘s short stories or poems that they engraved on their bamboo containers or other accessories. No need to talk or comment about it when it is shared with each other.

It appears to me that coddiwompling is much entwined with serendipity. Coddiwompling is to travel purposefully towards an as-yet-unknown destination. A coddiwompler is comfortable getting lost because he / she knows that’s where the truly worthwhile opportunities and aha's are to be found. Serendipity is bound to be encountered when one is open to new possibilities and welcome surprises. By these definitions of the word, I have been coddiwompling all along most of my life. I like to spontaneously and impulsively simply take the next ride that crosses my path, be it a bus a train or any other mode of transportation. I also often choose which road to take at cross roads at the very last moment. I like to simply follow my gut feel. Of course I am also aware that my decisions are influenced by my conscious and unconscious biases. Nonetheles, since I have no way of knowing what exactly lies ahead, coddiwompling is my way of saying, "your will be done, and not my will". Show me the way, I will follow.

Due to the digital medium in which we are currently interacting, I am compelled to write a short reply. Otherwise, my body language would tell you loud and clear, without ny words, that I totally agree with you.