Michael Mctwigan

“One way to slow down and cultivate a wonder practice is by stopping to consider the gifts we regularly receive in our life. In the same way that it’s nice to thank someone who has given us a new teapot or a pair of slippers, it behooves us to consider the source of more meaningful gifts, like good health or a warm home, and give thanks for them as well. If comparison is the thief of joy, it is also the thief of gratitude. When we compare what we have to that of others, we often compare up and thus feel a sense of regret at what we don’t have, and as those comparisons compound throughout our adult life, so do regret and resentment. If, however, we look at life through a wonder lens, like the open, curious eyes of a child, we can see the gifts we have with greater clarity. “We find gratitude journaling works so well with children because they have this innate sense of wonder. They don’t have the layers added on with obstacles that come later in life,” explains Robert Emmons, gratitude expert and author of the book Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. “There’s a very intimate connection between a sense of wonder and a sense of gratitude.”
― Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead

“For in addition to our remarkable ability to solve the puzzles and problems of empirical reality, to employ our rational faculties in the service of human understanding, and in pursuit of the good — we are also filled with a sense of the mysterious character of life and Being, with an awareness that there is so much that eludes our capable rational minds. This powerful sensation vibrates in the soul of the visual artist, the poet, and the musician. And the immediacy of this intuition beats in the heart of the mystic, irrespective of his or her religious tradition and affiliation. It is an eruption of Presence — divine, otherworldly. It is a moment of spiritual revelation, when the overwhelming power of the ungraspable rushes into the terrain of an everyday moment, transforming the ordinary into a sanctuary of wonder.”
― Jamie S. Korngold, Sh'ma on Mystery and Awe: Science and Religion

“Of course, thinking and conceptualizing are also a part of this seamless happening, but it is only in thinking and conceptualizing that we seem to get caught up in imaginary problems and dilemmas. It is only conceptually, in thought-generated stories, that we seem to be “somebody” who needs to be different from how we are. That’s why it can be so liberating when attention shifts from thoughts to the bare simplicity of hearing, seeing, sensing, awaring.”
― Joan Tollifson, Nothing to Grasp

“Top five tips to support your immune system Eat fermented foods, which contain helpful probiotics. Eat foods rich in a variety of prebiotic fibres, such as leeks, onions, artichokes, cabbages. Eat foods rich in polyphenols, such as colourful blueberries, beetroot, blood oranges, and nuts and seeds. Eat foods that dampen any inflammation after meals such as green leafy vegetables. Reduce consumption of meat and non-fermented dairy to occasional meals.”
― Tim Spector, Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well