Here's another reason to write, from Annie Dillard. Because she knows about these things.

Astonishment.

It's like a big bag of caffeine for the heart.

Dillard's quote here gives me permission to be more aware of it, to track it, to sniff it out.

What astonishes you? What dazzles and dizzies you?

I tend to feel it in an instant, a little flash-fire of brilliance in a moment of beauty. This quote makes me want to throw a spotlight on it, and then step into that light.

I'm new to Instagram, so I've been prowling around among all the photos, all the galleries and feeds. It's like a catalogue of wonder. I'm amazed by the landscapes, the food, art, and people. The perfect summer tomatoes, the mountains reflected on the lake, the kids throwing sand, the dog's patient expression, the frog wide-eyed on a child's palm.

All the sweet astonishingness of ordinary (and extraordinary) days.

We all need to be astonished, to move toward it.

And then this: We are meant to give voice to that.

To take the photos, write the poems, spin the stories, and capture the moment in one way or another. All of us, all us makers: that's our job.

And it is needed.

You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment. -- Annie Dillard