Go Be Alice

"'Curiouser and curiouser,’ cried Alice… ‘Good-bye, feet!’”

Good-bye, indeed.

(I don’t like the look of human feet. They make sense in keeping us upright and walking, I know; but they are just so odd.

Cat’s toes: sweet little jelly beans. Dog’s feet: handsome and rational. Horse hooves: Strong, thorough, capable. And then we have two blobs of flesh with five wigglies handing out at the end of them. They are definitely curiouser.)

It’s curiouser I’m interested in today. In meditation, I thought: move from a place of curiosity. The place we all inhabited when we were Alice. Not a solving curiosity; not a frantic curiosity; not the selfish curiosity that sees the Other and declares them Freak. Just Alice’s “curiouser and curiouser” attitude, watching to see how far away our poor Feet will go as we nibble the “Eat Me!” cake.

“Curiouser” takes us to a place of wonder, as it did Alice. “Curiouser” watches, and listens, and experiences, and isn’t afraid of what might happen next because something is bound to change. It lets us see new connections, try new things, and simply be part of whatever is happening as our lives unfold.

On weekends, I often give myself a day like that: when my husband asks what I will do that day, I say, “I am going to unfold.” They are always lovely days, because I give myself the gift of curiouser and do whatever happens to come next.

It’s hard to let ourselves unfold in life – or it was for me – because I was told to Have Dreams, Set Goals, and Achieve. It got me pretty far for a while; but then every goal seemed overwhelming, every dream seemed unattainable or silly, and achievement translated into making a living for the daily bread.

I’m on a new track now: unfold. Stay in the curiouser. See what happens; experience it. Of course, it comes back down to trust: whatever I get curiouser about, whatever rabbit hole I’m willing to go down, Something Interesting will happen.