How to Find the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

“I always feel uncomfortable when people speak about ordinary mortals because I’ve never met an ordinary man, woman or child.” ~ Joseph Campbell

Admit it.

You spend your days dreaming about the mountaintop experiences of life.

You yearn to make more money, find true love, be happy, have freedom beyond your wildest dreams, or achieve something great and enduring.

Meanwhile, your daily life may look nothing like your dreams. You drudge through the daily routines of work and home life. You grind through another workday, survive another harrowing commute, pay another bill, and do another house chore.

And here is the kicker – people with lives that you might consider to be extraordinary are not immune to drudgery. Why? Because the more time you spend in the realm of the extraordinary, the more ordinary it becomes.

But in truth, the extraordinary is all around us, all the time. We’re blind to it because we don’t expect to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and everyday experiences of our lives.

So how do we begin to see the extraordinary in the ordinary? Be wary of familiarity.

Young children can teach us about the dangers of familiarity. My two-year-old daughter who loves nature. She squeals with delight every time she sees an animal. She is fascinated by the birds in the air, the worms in the ground, and everything in-between. My daughter taught me how out of touch I’d become with my inner child.

What happens to all this wonder and delight as we grow? We become “familiar” with what once delighted us and we lose interest. We eventually come to believe that we know all there is to know about life. We stop expecting to be amazed as we become more educated and sophisticated.

To discover the extraordinary in the ordinary, we must maintain a sense of childlike curiosity and wonder toward the familiar. We must practice what spiritual writer Fr. Ronald Rolheiser calls a “second naïveté.” He explains the concept on his blog this way:

If you ask a naïve child: “Do you believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?”, she answers: “Yes.” If you ask a bright child: “Do you believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny?”, she answers: “No.” But if you ask even a brighter child: “Do you believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny?” she answers: “Yes” … but for a different reason.

What does the brighter child know that the bright child doesn’t? She understands a deeper truth that goes beyond the question about whether these characters exist. She knows that they represent the power of generosity and kindness. And in her “Yes” she chooses wonder over cynicism.

In the days of Edison, electricity was magical. Today we scarcely give a thought to the marvel that electricity is in our modern world.

What about that extraordinary machine that transports you to work every day?

Or the fact that you are reading this because of the power of computers and the internet – and that you can afford both?

Or the person in your life who truly loves you for who you are?

Or the fact that your body is breathing just for you?

You are extraordinary – and everything you do and experience is extraordinary. You’re no less extraordinary now than you were as a precious little child in the eyes of your parents.

Know that you don’t have to go out of your way to be extraordinary or to experience the extraordinary.

You don’t have to spend all your waking hours daydreaming about it.

You can live it by simply choosing to become naïve again.