Wonder is a vast subject. It includes a bit of all the other positive emotions. It floats through love, valour, humour, calmness of mind, nature, space and the cosmic consciousness. Let’s look at how it emerges in my life.
The element of wonder is the underlying feeling that envelops love, be it for my partner, child, mother, or pet. How can another being exist who tugs at one’s heartstringsThe love I feel for my grandchildren surprises me the most. Who are these mini-Me’s, appearing from ‘nowhere’ and are ‘now here’? How do they look like us yet remain different? I remain in a perpetual state of amazement at the Source that manufactures such replicas of my family, yet unmistakably independent of my genes, too. Not clones, but… it is as if I am the bricks and mortar on which the child creates a new product of itself. Creative recycling – that’s what it is.
I observe it popping up in valour – people who can fight and survive beyond endurance levels, those who seem meek until challenged, those who try relentlessly every day to succeed. When most of us dare not speak out against powerful people, they show the courage to demand their rights. Yes, these kinds of people fill me with a sense of wonder.
When strangers show unexpected kindness, when a person helps another during hardship, a child shares without being asked, someone offers comfort to another in pain – such moments restore my faith in humanity and remind me that goodness still quietly exists everywhere.
I bow my head to all my domestic staff – how they face life with grit and strength.
Each story is different; some have drunken or missing spouses, some have vagrant children, and some have eloping daughters. Yet what remains universal is that they manage to stay serene and toil away, finding peace in their daily chores and in the small kindnesses shown by the families they work for. The wonder is that they often do not suffer from diseases as much as richer folk, who have all the conveniences at their disposal. I came to understand that acceptance of one’s reality is mastered better by the economically weaker folk than by the privileged people. The latter always remain dissatisfied, wanting ‘more’.
Humour is another aspect that I want to add to this list. It’s a wonderful health tool, as laughter releases endorphins – the feel-good hormones. Laughter is like medicine, healing us both psychologically and physically. As I mentioned in my book, it is the small, innocent aspects of life that make us laugh …The dog with the shaggy coat shaking water from its wet fur, hating every bit of its bath; the baby who lisps words of wisdom; the tiny animals who show their peculiarities nature has bestowed on them; small everyday miracles that happen in an ordinary life- woven inside them are the unexpected delights.
I feel that calmness of mind is the most wonderful of all. It leads us to the ultimate – God. It quietens our turbulence. It is like ‘Ma Durga’ with eight hands – creating balance, harmony, security, transcendental feelings, clarity of thought – the list of its positive effects is endless. I meditate religiously on the cosmic powers. It feels like I am relentlessly searching for that ultimate Wonder – the ability to experience God’s presence. Then I remind myself – every moment we breathe is God’s presence – and I do not need to find its ‘physical avatar’.
I watch nature quietly performing its miracles every day. A tiny seed breaking through hard earth to become a flowering plant, rain arriving after unbearable heat, birds instinctively finding their way home across continents – all of this makes life feel magical.
I have travelled around the world, appreciating nature in its myriad forms. But the Masai Mara was where I understood life, death and eternity. There, amidst the leaping deer, baying wildebeests and roaring lions, I understood the meaning of destiny. I had written in my story that my beloved dog’s soul would be cavorting with these sublime wildlife -so elemental was the scenery.
Science and discovery, too, awaken my mind. The fact that planets move in perfect rhythm, that the human body heals itself, and that invisible thoughts become spoken words and written books – all this feels extraordinary. The more I learn, the more I realise how much remains unknown.
Another source for me is creativity itself. How does a blank page suddenly fill with stories, characters, emotions, and worlds? How does music emerge from silence, or a painting from a few strokes of colour? The human mind is itself a mystery wrapped in wonder.
I followed the path creativity unfolded for me – through my love for dance, theatre, writing, and art. I converted this passion for the unknown into a profession – teaching thousands of children that ‘beating to one’s own drum is the meaning of life’. I understood that ‘it’s okay not to be okay’!
The idea of parallel universes fills me with another kind of astonishment. Is there another version of ourselves somewhere, making different choices, living different destinies? Could invisible worlds exist beside ours, separated only by dimensions beyond our understanding? Such thoughts stretch my imagination beyond ordinary boundaries.
Stories of alien encounters and unexplained phenomena continue to puzzle me. The sheer possibility that intelligent life may exist beyond Earth creates a profound sense of amazement. Are we alone in this vast universe, or are there civilizations silently observing, travelling, and evolving far beyond our comprehension?
Past-life regression fascinates me the most. How can people remember places they have never visited, languages they never learnt, or emotions linked to another time and existence? Whether these experiences arise from memory, spirit, or the subconscious mind, they open mysterious doors into the hidden layers of human existence. I have written multiple stories in my books on this theme, facing ridicule from those who see only a mathematical, physical world as real. But in my understanding of the findings of various learned people, including Dolores Cannon, Dr Brian Weiss, and other luminaries, I feel happy to be part of a group of thinkers who accept that realities exist beyond our five senses.
The concept of heaven has always inspired wonder in me as well. Every culture imagines it differently – a realm of peace, light, reunion, and divine love. The thought that human existence may continue beyond physical death offers both comfort and mystery. Even more wondrous is the idea that heaven can perhaps be experienced while still alive – in moments of meditation, prayer, creativity, unconditional love, or deep silence. There are fleeting moments when the soul feels uplifted beyond ordinary reality, as though touching something eternal and divine.
And finally, I feel thrilled when I reflect on life itself – its strange timing, coincidences, meetings, separations, and unexpected turns. Some people enter our lives for only a moment yet leave permanent footprints on our hearts.
The journey of human existence, with all its mysteries, remains the greatest wonder of all.
