How To Overcome The 2 States of Life

Either you’re filled with Wonder, or you Wander

Daniel Gonçalves
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read
Source:pixabay

I look at life as the choice between 2 states:

The first is the State of Wonder(with a big, round “o”). It includes life’s blissful moments — like the book making you cry, or the woman you can’t stop admiring— insouciant times where the brain forgets the future. It’s what Buddhist Monks call living in the present.

The second, I call it State of Wander (the “a” shining)— a crisis state bearing uncertainty and indecision. People in this state are constantly searching for their identity, afraid of the future. It’s comparable to limbo. Buddhists have no word for it. No one does — I believe.

In 24 years alive, I experienced both states, yet spent most of my adult life in the Second. It meant miserable months spent yearning for self-discovery.

The first time it happened I was just a college freshman convinced I had chosen the wrong major. I changed courses, went to another University. Yet the doubted persisted, as I quarrelled with my non-existent identity.

I became depressed. Seriously depressed. It’s the dead giveaway of a Wander Stater’s. So I lost my friends. Being friends with a “Wander Stater” is hard-work. After all, no one likes to walk a suspension bridge. People fear the unknown.

And I was unknown.

Even to me.

But then I transitioned.

My State Changed.

The first step towards change was grasping emotional intelligence, which meant understanding the bigger-picture — our insignificance in an infinite Universe. It facilitated the next step: eliminating the Ego, an obscure force inducing selfishness in people. By doing it, I let go of me, and uncuffed my worries. The anguish dissipated, and I became focused on my surroundings — the people around — and not myself.

Then, the everlasting search for identity halted, and everything changed.

I had achieved the State of Wonder, as my legs refused to walk through the desert of life.

No more wandering.

Now I’m transfigured, full of hope and love. Alive.

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