Bronzi's 24 Hour Wealth

I was a fifth grader the first time I flew on a commercial flight. I remember being amazed that I could get all the soft drinks I wanted for free. I remember the wonder of looking out at the clouds and the topography far below. I remember watching us land. The entire thing was a great adventure and I was full of wonder.

In college, as I flew once in awhile, I always got a window seat – I wanted to be able to watch the ground pass below me. The wonderment of it all – the patterns and beauty of looking out the window was overwhelming. Yes, I would sometimes read or do something else, but much of the flight I would sit… and stare… and be in wonder of it all.

Soon after I started working, I found myself flying a bit more, and it became clear that during my business life that I would fly. I mentioned once to my Mom, who loves to fly, that I’d never lose that great feeling that an airplane flight brings – and that I would always get window seats.

Somewhere along the way from flying once every couple months to flying 100,000 miles per year I moved to the aisle. I lost the wonder of it all. Last week, I had a window seat and stopped working or reading long enough to spend some time looking out the window. Today, as I write this, I have just finished 20 minutes of window gazing. Some of the wonder is back!
There are many things in our lives that we once considered wonderful (full of wonder). Many of those things we now take for granted. All of this makes me wonder, where the wonder has gone.

Where’s the Wonder?

I believe seeing the wonder in things around us is one of the ways we make our lives more meaningful and enjoyable. This is one of the reasons we go on vacations. Yes, some people’s vacations consist of little more than a beach (which can be wonderful in many ways!). But many more people take time to learn new things on vacations, by going to museums and art galleries. Many of us travel to exotic places to marvel at sites, and cultures and foods. Wonder plays a big part in the allure of these trips and the satisfaction gained from the experiences.

You may be thinking, is wonder really such a big deal? I would say a resounding yes! Why? Think about it, the absence of wonder, is often called boredom, or worse, cynicism. These are not things that people aspire to!

While we can all certainly experience wonder in new things – new locations, new experiences, new books, new ideas, I believe I found an important key to a more enjoyable life outside the plane window. That key is to add more wonder to life by re-capturing past wonder, and finding new wonder in the things I do each day.

Re-discovering Wonder

There are several things we can do to add to the wonder in our lives – to make our lives more wonder-full.

1. Look at things with fresh eyes. Think about things that have become habit for you. The next time you do them, do them as if you were a beginner again. Start with your drive or commute to work. Make it an exercise in finding wonder. For example, perhaps you go by a school on your way. Spend some time thinking about things from your kidhood days in school. Then try this “fresh-eyed” approach to other routine tasks.

2. Make a list of things you found wonderful at different stages in your life. If you write a journal do it there. If not, make these lists instead of watching TV one evening. Once you have the list, spend some time reveling in those wonders. Think too about how you could re-experience those things again.

3. Make a list of wonders you find each day or week. Again, a great journaling task, or a great routine to add to your planning for a new week.

4. Plan a mini-vacation or a day trip to someplace wonderful for you. I grew up on a farm, so a drive in the country in spring or fall is particularly helpful in restoring my sense of wonder in the growing process. Others might find your mini day to be boring – help them see your wonder – and in turn you will experience your own at a deeper level. Then go with them when they try to recapture their own.

5. Go to an old event, focused on different things. The next time you go to a ball game, focus less on the action, and more on the spectators, or vice versa. Go shopping and shop for something entirely different than you usually would. You get the idea.

These are just a few ideas to help you re-infuse your life with wonder. This idea is really taking hold in my life, in small ways each day is more wonder-full and more meaningful as well.

I believe when you choose to rediscover your wonder, you’ll benefit in the same ways.

You know, the Mississippi River is an awesome sight from 31,000 feet.

Do you believe in asking God, or whatever higher power you choose to believe in, for the answers you need, when you need them? Read below for an enlightening story about my 11 year old daughter’s missing homework papers.

The problem started when my daughter took a break from her homework to eat dinner. She asked me if she could take it in her room and work on it while watching TV.

(Not a good idea, BTW). Even the best of us moms have our weak moments. )

Anyhow, by the time dinner was over, there was no homework to be found.

As with all lost items, I suggested the usual mom replies. “Retrace your steps.” “Think, where was the last place you wrote an answer down on it.”

She spent 15 minutes of looking, another 10 minutes of tears for fear of getting detention, during her first week of middle school, (for not turning in homework.) All the tears and whining in frustration were followed with another 10 minutes of both of us looking, and still no homework.

Can you relate?

I bet as a mom, you have probably, been there, done that, if not with homework, with a child’s shoes, your car keys. etc…..

I had recently been reading and studying up on manifesting your life, and creating the life you want by projecting a positive attitude, following your intuition. I had been real motivated and psyched with what I was learning.

“Okay mom, I thought to myself,” “now you can put all this philosophy to the test.”

I said,

“Let’s kneel down on the floor right now, and ask God to help us find your homework.” She started to giggle as if to say, but she knew not to dare say it out loud, “Yeah right, Mom!”

We knelt down and I lead her in a short but to the point prayer. Although small in time, it was still filled with gratitude but we did request immediate help to find her homework.

I can see some of you laughing at me, as this story unfolds.

As soon as we were done, I stood up. I told her to take a deep breath and relax. I did the same. Then I went to the kitchen. I thought to myself, “maybe she was still hungry and brought the homework out here while looking for something else to eat.”

I started to walk to the refrigerator. ) Well who knows, it could have been in there. But before I even got that far, I glanced over to the counter, and there sat her homework packet, on top of the toaster.

I picked it up and took it back to the living room. Now remember, I told her to take a deep breath and relax. She wasn’t even through relaxing and I had already found her homework.

Needless to say, my daughter had a hard time believing that I hadn’t known it was there all along.

She did know that though, because she had heard my anguish and frustration just minutes earlier with her misplacing it.

Was it just coincidence? Did I just get lucky?

I believe we create our own luck. I have been studying hard lately to eliminate negative thoughts and replace them with power affirming thoughts instead.

I believe God did just what I asked him too. It was my intuition that led me to the kitchen with the thought about her maybe being hungry. The fact that she might have been looking for food when she set down her homework led me straight to the toaster.

In my humble opinion, it was God who planted those thoughts into my mind, because we asked him for some help. When He answers us so quickly, it is really almost impossible not to believe and have faith.

If it was only that easy to have the same type of faith if we were to ask to win the lottery, (which I don’t feel is really an appropriate prayer,however). To believe that he could remove all thought, or doubt in our minds that we wouldn’t, it might just happen too.

How many of you can honestly say, when you buy a lottery ticket, it is an absolute winner, that you have not one flickering of a doubt that you will have the winning numbers? You would have to have miraculous faith to do this.

You can’t really, because it is next to impossible for the human mind, knowing the odds of actually winning, to eliminate all traces of doubt in that particular scenerio. Some of those thoughts are buried so deep in your subconscious that you are not even aware of them.

In contrast though, it was fairly easy for me to have faith that God could help me find my daughter’s homework, because I knew it hadn’t grown feet and walked out the door. )

Martin Luther King, Jr. died when I was only eight years old. At the time I did not know of Martin Luther King, jr. But as I got older and learned of him and what he stood for, I learned what he stood for and what he did for my race (Blacks, African Americans). I am proud to be an African American.

Here is Martin Luther King Jr’s, full version video of his famous speech “I Have A Dream”.