It's about a year since I went to Kibbutz Almog with a bunch of other neshama searchers on a 4-day spiritual retreat.  I was in a pretty good place at the time – I was growing up and no longer fighting it.

Probably everyone on that retreat had a different experience and came seeking something slightly unique.  What the group did have in common though – that I saw – was they were all looking for the "wow." Obviously, what was wow to one, wasn't to another, so again we all took different angles.

About a month before embarking the coach at Machon Pardes following a spaghetti lunch, I found an article by Oprah Winfrey, on the back page of one of her monthly magazines, the series of which is entitled, "What I know for sure.".  That particularly one I found almost deafened me, the words being so in tune with what I'd been feeling for sometime but couldn't express.  

Oprah spoke about all the years she'd spent trying to find the answers in life: to lose weight; get the best career; find the perfect relationship, etc, etc.  Throughout this time of struggle she'd felt incredibly frustrated.  Finally, she'd found the answer to life's big secret...It was as simple in theory as it was complicated in practices: "What I know for sure is this," she said: "The big secret in life is that there is no big secret... There are no back doors, no free rides. There's just you, this moment and a choice."

In all the years I'd spent being analyzed by either another or self; the endless chats with like-minded souls on how to battle life's perturbing struggles; the nights spent staring at the ceiling hoping for an answer, it'd never been so clear as it was then in Oprah Winfrey icon chat show host print.  Yet  it was something no-one else had clarified quite so well.  "Guess what?" she'd dared to ask, "you know the 'big secret' everyone raves about? Well... it doesn't exist!"

That was my first step.  My second step was the spiritual retreat. And my third step is one that continues today, and will G-d-willing, form a thread throughout my life.  Being on the retreat, with people seeking answers to perturbed souls, made me realize how "on the money" Oprah really had it.  It may be fun in your 20s to soul-search and there's always a place for it in some way up until the day you die, but maturing – in my experience – requires an acceptance of living life peacefully and with humility and gratitude.  When you come to that place, you can start understanding that life's big secret doesn't exist and how great that is.

When I began that road, it was with immense pleasure my "Wow!" moment became ingrained in me. This sense of wow! hasn't left me since... not that life is boring Heaven forbid, but that all the little miracles in life we so take for granted comprise that wow! The 5 year old "big brother" escorting his 2 1/2 year old "little sister" to school in the streets of Jerusalem; the old man who grunts to everyone who passes his way but pets your fluffy puppy; the fact that everyone can be Jewish in Israel without having to explain Friday afternoon sunsets and Shabbat onsets; grandparents; and random butterflies, to name but a few.

It's those moments that need to be cherished in life; it's those everyday occurrences that should become the center of one's soul-searching as one begins to mature and those minor miracles that should never be seen as such, but should be appreciated as a gift from our Creator as the truly wondrous acts they are.

The culmination to date of my understanding of "Wow!" has of course been brought by my own personal shaliach, Daniel.  The personification of what it means to have truly enjoyed every bracha from above, I have been blessed with a daily reminder of what life is really about and how many "Wow!" moments I have to be grateful for.

So thank you to everyone; to Oprah; the spiritual retreaters – Erin, Aryeh and Yehoshua in particular; and finally to my daily grateful receptors of

G-d's brachot – Daniel, Jeanne and my nearest and dearest.

Emma