Three Things Happen When You Say Wow
by Bo Sanchez
If you say wow more often, three wonderful things will enter your life: wealth, wisdom, and welcome.
1. Wealth
When you say wow often, your life becomes richer—spiritually, emotionally, and experientially. And yes, even materially, if you need it.
One day, I was chatting with two women, and the discussion went to happiness. I asked them, “What makes you happy?”
The first woman, let’s call her Cathy, said, “When my husband and I are on a cruise, I’m happy.”
I asked her, “How often does that happen?” I knew I was talking to a very wealthy woman because she said, “We try to take a cruise once a year.”
I asked the other woman, let’s call her Betty, “What makes you happy?” I already knew her answer would be different because this woman had never been on a cruise, except maybe Sta. Cruz. (Gosh, I’m corny.)
She answered, “When I’m having breakfast with my husband, I’m happy.”
I asked her, “How often does that happen?”
She said, “Every morning.”
Here’s my question: Who is happier more often, Cruising Cathy or Breakfast Betty?
If people see the extraordinary in the ordinary, simple things will make them happy. Yes, mababaw ang kaligayahan nila (they find happiness in the small things).
It’s easy for them to say wow!
Walt Streightiff said, “There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”
Can Wow Make You Materially Wealthy?
I’ve noticed that great entrepreneurs love saying wow. Because great entrepreneurs are always open, always looking, always searching, always trying to find new opportunities to serve others in better ways.
My suggestion: Seek brilliance anywhere you can find it. Seek fantastic speakers, singers, actors, poets, musicians—and get inspired. Walk around museums and other places where greatness is exhibited.
And when you enter an old church, or walk into a forest, or climb a mountain, or sit on the beach, or look up at the night sky—take time to be still and say, “Wow!”
When you say wow more often, your life will become so much richer. Because when you stand in awe and wonder, you’re opening yourself to blessings. Your soul is vibrating in the same frequency of joy, happiness, miracles, healing, and love—so you receive all that effortlessly.
Next blessing…
2. Wisdom
Socrates said, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
People ask me, “Bo, how can you preach about different topics every single week at The Feast?”
My answer: “When I’m onstage, I talk. But the moment I step off stage, I stop talking and start listening. I love asking questions. I love picking the brains of people—because every person has experiences I’ve never experienced, has gone to places I’ve never been to, and has done stuff I never did.”
One day, I had lunch with a Nigerian priest. I never met him before, so I had a thousand and one questions. But that morning, I suddenly lost my voice. It was a horrible feeling. I opened my mouth and not a single sound came out. But I consoled myself that two of my friends were in that lunch, so they would ask the questions.
Guess what? No one asked him questions. After they asked for his name and where he came from, they just stared at each other.
I wanted to ask, “Nigeria! I’ve never been there. What’s it like? How many Christians are there? Were your parents Catholic?” I wanted to ask a thousand questions. I know of only one Filipino who became an overseas Filipino worker in Nigeria. When he was a small boy, everyone called him Nognog because he was dark. But he was so happy when he went to Nigeria, because all of a sudden, he was mestizo.
That day, I realized why I’ve grown in wisdom. Because people of wow are sponges of wisdom. Put me beside another human being—any human being—a missionary, an entrepreneur, a taxi driver, a policeman, or a housewife—and I will suck the wisdom out of that person. I’ll drink up his/her story, experience, emotions and lessons.
That’s why I also love reading. I love listening to talks. And I love attending seminars. I’ll pay enormous amounts of money to attend conferences. Because I love to say wow.
And the last blessing…
3. Welcome
At its very core, wonder is an expression of humility.
This is the reason people who say wow often are usually easy to work with. Why? They’re not threatened by different people. They welcome them! They appreciate differences. They celebrate uniqueness.
Do you know what breaks my heart? When I read the news and see how much war and hatred are done in the name of God.
That’s because we’ve lost our wow. We lack humility. I believe that if you’re a person of wow, you’ll find so much beauty in other religions—in Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Note: I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus as the fullest and most perfect expression of who God is. Yet I discover glimpses of my God in other religions and celebrate them.
Wow Leads to Love
If wow comes from humility, wow leads to love.
St. Francis of Assisi was both the poorest and the richest man who lived on planet Earth. He owned everything and he owned nothing. He owned everything because he was like a child in front of God’s creation who called the sun, “Brother Sun,” and the moon, “Sister Moon.” And he loved everyone. He especially loved the poorest of the poor.
Psychologists have proven through many tests that people who have a deep sense of wonder are altruistic. They think of others. They love other people.
What’s the connection between wonder and love? By realizing that you’re standing in front of something bigger than yourself, you know you’re no longer the center of the universe.
Wow Is Great for Relationships
When my mother was in her seventies and eighties, she would tell me the same old stories over and over again. I cannot count the number of times Mom told me, “I grew up during the Japanese war.” I could have responded by saying, “Oh, gosh, not again. Mom, you told me that story a hundred times.”
But I didn’t. Instead, I just asked questions I’ve never asked before. “Mom, did you see the Japanese soldiers already eat sushi with wasabi?”
And I tried to learn something new from her story.
When you’re a person of wow, you try to look at the same people in different ways.
The best marriages happen when husbands and wives still say wow every time they see each other. Every day, you discover something new about each other.
That’s why I don’t need to have an affair with another woman. I’m already having an affair with my wife.
The silliest thing you can ever say is, “I already know him.” No, you don’t. Because the soul of each person is eternal. There is an entire universe to discover!
See Others as God’s Masterpiece
One day, a woman truck driver named Teri Horton walked into a flea shop and saw a painting in the corner that no one wanted. She decided to buy it for a depressed friend. But when the storeowner told her it was worth eight dollars, Teri joked that she didn’t love her friend that much.
“I’ll buy it for five,” she said. And the owner said, yes.
Later on, a friend saw the artwork and told her, “That’s a painting by Jackson Pollock.”
She asked, “Who is that?” She never heard of him before.
Teri learned that Jackson Pollock was a very famous painter.
Later, she learned that the painting she bought for only five dollars was actually worth $50 million.
I believe that people around us are just like Teri. Because people don’t know their true value. They think they’re worth five dollars—and that’s the reason they live the way they do.
They destroy their life with bad habits, hang out with bad friends, and make bad choices.
You can help them. How? Look at them with your wow glasses. See the extraordinary in their ordinariness. See them as fifty-million-dollar paintings.
When you see them, say, “Wow, this is God’s work!”
Say Wow with Your Family Members
We especially need to say wow when we deal with our own family members.
One day, there was a seventy-five-year-old man sitting on the bench with his forty-five-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly, a bird landed in front of them.
The father asked his son, “What is this?”
The son replied, “It’s a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son, “What is this?”
The son said, “Dad, I just told you, it’s a crow.”
After a little while, the old father asked his son for the third time, “What is this?”
This time, the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? It’s a crow! It’s a crow! It’s a crow! Can’t you understand?”
The father kept quiet. A few moments later, he stood up and went to his room. When he returned, he handed to his son his very own old tattered diary—written many decades ago. Opening the first few pages, he asked his son to read them to him aloud.
Tears rolled down the son’s cheeks.
Because in the diary, the father wrote,
“Today, my three-year-old was sitting with me on the bench, when a crow perched on the window. My little son asked me twenty-three times what it was, and I replied to him twenty-three times that it was a crow. I hugged him each time he asked me the question for twenty-three times. I did not at all feel irritated, but I felt affection for my innocent child.”
Especially when parents get old, we sometimes forget to look at them with wonder.
My final word? Your God is a God of wow.
Because every time He looks at you, He says, “Wow!”
Sometimes, we’re annoying. Sometimes, we’re frustrating. Many times, we fail Him. We fall. We falter. We sin. But He still looks at us with His wow eyeglasses.
You may see yourself as a five-dollar painting. God sees you as a $50-zillion painting. Who will you believe?
Say wow more often.
This article is an excerpt from the book, Be Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy Today: How to Be Richer with Life Lessons from the Teacher and the Preacher by Bo Sanchez and Dean Pax Lapid, PhD.
Featured from Unsplash.
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