Awakening the Child Within: A Window of Wonder
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Title: Awakening the Child Within: A Meditation on Pure Seeing with Meditation Teacher Steven Webb
Description: Meditation teacher Steven Webb guides you through a gentle visualisation practice that reconnects you with the wide eyed wonder you had as a very young child. Inspired by Rumi's timeless words "sell your cleverness, buy bewilderment," this meditation invites you to stand before an imaginary window of wonder and rediscover the extraordinary mystery hidden inside everyday life. It is a companion to the Stillness in the Storms episode exploring the question "Is this all there is?"
Who this meditation is for:
- Anyone who has felt that quiet inner whisper of "is this all there is?"
- Listeners looking to reconnect with childlike curiosity and beginner's mind
- People who feel stuck in overthinking, labelling, or needing to figure everything out
- Anyone drawn to contemplative practices inspired by Rumi and Zen wisdom
Key benefits:
- Reconnects you with the sense of wonder and awe you had as a child
- Eases the pressure of needing to know, understand, or fix everything
- Cultivates presence, openness, and beginner's mind
- Offers a fresh perspective on the mystery of simply being alive
- Pairs beautifully with the Stillness in the Storms podcast episode for deeper exploration
If you'd like to contact Steven or support his work, go to https://stevenwebb.uk
Transcript
Hi, I'm Stephen Webb.
Speaker A:Welcome to the Window of Wonder.
Speaker A:So find yourself a comfortable position.
Speaker A:You can sit or lie down, whatever feels right for you.
Speaker A:And when you're ready, just gently close your eyes or just soften your gaze just a few feet in front of.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not going to ask you to do anything special with your breathing.
Speaker A:Your body knows how to breathe.
Speaker A:It's been doing it for your whole life without you getting involved.
Speaker A:So just become aware of your breath, that's all.
Speaker A:Notice the breath as it comes in.
Speaker A:Notice as it goes out.
Speaker A:You don't need to change it, slow it down, or make it deeper.
Speaker A:And as you're settling in, I want you to know that this moment already has everything it needs.
Speaker A:You don't need to create anything, don't need to fix anything.
Speaker A:You don't need to be anywhere other than just right here.
Speaker A:This moment is already complete.
Speaker A:So we'll also invite the body to relax.
Speaker A:And I say invite because the body knows how to relax.
Speaker A:Just as it knows how to breathe.
Speaker A:It does it every night when you fall asleep.
Speaker A:And you're simply just giving it permission.
Speaker A:You can start with the muscles around your forehead as well.
Speaker A:Just notice them and then allow them to soften.
Speaker A:And then just coming down through your face and your jaw, your eyes, nose, your neck and your shoulders.
Speaker A:Even things like your mouth and your elbows and your hands, fingers.
Speaker A:So allow them all to relax as it continues down through your body, through your chest and your belly.
Speaker A:Let your belly soften.
Speaker A:And your bum and your legs, right down to your ankles and your feet.
Speaker A:Nothing to grace for.
Speaker A:And now you're here.
Speaker A:You're breathing.
Speaker A:You're at rest.
Speaker A:Breathing in calm, breathing out.
Speaker A:Relax.
Speaker A:And before we go deeper, I want to share something with you.
Speaker A:Won't take long, but I think it's important.
Speaker A:There's a question that most of us carry somewhere inside.
Speaker A:And it usually whispers rather than shouts.
Speaker A:And the question is, is this all there is?
Speaker A:Maybe you felt it, that quiet ache beneath the life that looks perfectly fine.
Speaker A:Or sometimes it's just ticking along, that sense that something is missing, even when nothing is actually wrong.
Speaker A:We tend to push that question away.
Speaker A:We may feel guilty thinking it.
Speaker A:But what if that question isn't a sign of failure?
Speaker A:What if it's actually a doorway?
Speaker A:800 years ago, the poet Rumi wrote six words that I keep coming back to.
Speaker A:And he said, sell your cleverness by bewilderment.
Speaker A:Sell your cleverness by bewilderment.
Speaker A:And we spend so much of our times trying to know, trying to understand, trying to figure everything out.
Speaker A:Rumi is gently suggesting that the magic of being alive isn't found in the answers.
Speaker A:It's found in the wondering, in the not knowing.
Speaker A:In the wide open space of bewilderment.
Speaker A:So as we settle in deeper, here's a little poem that captures what I mean.
Speaker A:I thought I knew the sky until I saw it for the first time.
Speaker A:I thought I knew my breath until I felt it move without me.
Speaker A:I thought I knew the world until I stopped and let the world know me.
Speaker A:Sell your cleverness.
Speaker A:Stand empty and see what rushes in.
Speaker A:And that is what this meditation is about.
Speaker A:Not trying to know, not trying to understand.
Speaker A:Just opening.
Speaker A:Just being bewildered again.
Speaker A:And the way you were when you were very, very young.
Speaker A:Very small.
Speaker A:And let's go there now, with your eyes still closed or almost closed.
Speaker A:I want you to imagine something.
Speaker A:You are standing in the front of a window.
Speaker A:It's a large window.
Speaker A:And on the other side of it is everything.
Speaker A:Everything you've ever seen and everything you've never seen.
Speaker A:Everything you know and everything you will never know.
Speaker A:It's all there, just beyond the glass.
Speaker A:I think as we explore deeper into the universe, the unknown doesn't shrink, it grows it's wonder.
Speaker A:So stand at your window now and just look.
Speaker A:You don't need to understand what you see.
Speaker A:You don't need to name it or explain it.
Speaker A:You don't need to make sense of it.
Speaker A:Just let yourself look the way a child looks at something for the very first time.
Speaker A:If you're finding it hard to visualize something, just know it in your heart and your body.
Speaker A:That there's something mystery out there.
Speaker A:That there's a wonder out there beyond your knowledge, beyond your knowing.
Speaker A:Like the excitement of a child going somewhere for the very first time.
Speaker A:Do you remember what that was like?
Speaker A:To see something?
Speaker A:You have no word for, no category, no label.
Speaker A:Just pure seeing, pure wonder.
Speaker A:A butterfly landing on a leaf.
Speaker A:Raindrop sliding down a window the colour of the sky just before the sun disappears.
Speaker A:Before you filed them away.
Speaker A:When the world was made entirely of magic, the magic didn't go anywhere.
Speaker A:You just stopped looking for it.
Speaker A:You grew up and you learned the names of things.
Speaker A:And you thought that knowing the name meant you knew the thing.
Speaker A:Knowing that tree is called a tree tells you almost nothing about the tree.
Speaker A:How it breathes, how it speaks to other trees.
Speaker A:That's the mystery, that's the bewilderment.
Speaker A:And it's right in front of you every single day.
Speaker A:So as you stand at the window, let Yourself, feel the enormity of what you don't know.
Speaker A:Your eyes can only see a tiny sliver of what light exists.
Speaker A:Your ears can only hear a fraction of the sound.
Speaker A:You are sensing the universe through the smallest of openings.
Speaker A:And yet, even through that tiny opening, you can look how beautiful it is.
Speaker A:Look how extraordinary it all is.
Speaker A:Now imagine the window begins to open slowly.
Speaker A:And as it opens, you can feel a sense of space so large that has no edges.
Speaker A:This is the not knowing.
Speaker A:And it doesn't feel frightening.
Speaker A:It feels exciting, it feels alive.
Speaker A:As Shunro Suzuki would say, beginner's mind.
Speaker A:There is many possibilities.
Speaker A:Let your mind be that now.
Speaker A:Empty of what you think you know.
Speaker A:Open to everything, Ready for anything.
Speaker A:Right here.
Speaker A:Breathing, aware, open.
Speaker A:Willing to be amazed.
Speaker A:Nobody knows why you are aware.
Speaker A:Right now, in this moment, in this body, that's not a problem to solve.
Speaker A:That is a wonder to feel.
Speaker A:Let yourself rest in the wonder now.
Speaker A:Don't try to hold it or understand it.
Speaker A:Just let it be here, like a child lying on the grass, staring up at the sky, not asking what the clouds are made of, just watching, just being, Just amazed that any of it exists at all.
Speaker A:And as Rumi said, sell your cleverness by bewilderment.
Speaker A:So let all that cleverness go now.
Speaker A:And just stay here for a little longer.
Speaker A:Breathing.
Speaker A:Resting in this mystery.
Speaker A:Feeling how fast this moment really is when you stop trying to shrink it into something you can understand.
Speaker A:And now, gently, this begin to come back.
Speaker A:I'm going to count from five down to one.
Speaker A:With each number, let yourself return slowly to the room, to your body, to your day, but carry this feeling with you, this bewilderment, this openness.
Speaker A:It doesn't have to end when the meditation does.
Speaker A:You can look at the world through these eyes all day long, as if it's the first time you've ever seen it.
Speaker A:So, 5.
Speaker A:Beginning to notice your body again.
Speaker A:4.
Speaker A:Beginning to be aware of the space around you.
Speaker A:3.
Speaker A:Starting to feel your fingers in your toes.
Speaker A:2.
Speaker A:Taking a slightly deeper breath now and feeling yourself settling back into the present, into this room, into this moment.
Speaker A:1.
Speaker A:When you're ready, just gently open your eyes.
Speaker A:Look at the first thing you see as if you'd never seen it before, because you haven't.
Speaker A:Not this version, not in this light, not in this moment.
Speaker A:Welcome back and thank you for being here with me.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I'm Stephen Webb.
Speaker A:And just a reminder that this meditation was part of a podcast on Stillness in the Storms that answers the question in a more conversational way.
Speaker A:And all of these meditations are brought to you by people donating, donating a coffee.
Speaker A:Or head over to stephenweb.uk for the other podcast, Stillness in the Storms and a way you can reach out to me and support.
Speaker A:Until next time, stay curious, stay bewildered, and just keep looking for the very first time.
