Karen Hoffman made a pact with her youngest son several years ago - they would not worry. Even in the midst of health challenges, bills and the regular and (sometimes irregular) twists and turns of life, they were committed not to worry.

Instead?

They were going to wonder.

“Songwriter Rebecca Folsom wrote a song called Wonder in 2016 — it’s main question: Why worry when you can wonder?” Karen shares. “For almost eight years now, my son and I have been cultivating a practice of wonder. Phrases like I wonder if the hail will do something to my car feels much better than I’m worried the hail will do something to my car. This replacement phrase has genuinely improved the lens in which I view my life.”

Words carry essence, she says. They matter.

Wondering invites us to see beyond the perceived problem and into the more.

Unfolding journey of wonder

As an interspiritual retreat and workshop leader, Karen didn’t always work in this space. For much of her 30s and 40s, she served as a nursing home administrator during the years her three boys were growing up. Her desire to connect others to resources combined with her compassionate spirit made her a natural fit for this role. However, as her needs began to shift, she recalls a day her heart began to wonder some.

After taking a breath (or a few) and refocusing, Karen began working for nearby Jewish community Temple Emanu-El in Dallas where she served in various leadership and support capacities for 15 years.

Then the pandemic hit. And she began to get curious again.

“In 2020, I began to notice the loneliness and social pressures people were experiencing,” Karen says. “Right after I turned 60 and soon after the pandemic hit, it was the right time for me to leave Temple. This wasn’t me retiring. This was me re-wiring.”

She had loved all of her roles - wife, mother, daughter, non-profit administrator, and she also realized she had spent hours channeling into others and not herself. This noticing was really the start of her spiritual journey taking on deeper meaning she says. As she began to go inward, she noticed a desire and passion for others to do the same.

Freedom to discover

During her time of re-wiring, Karen gave herself room.

Space. Freedom to discover.

In 2021, she founded Living on Purpose, a cornerstone for connecting others with resources to facilitate personal growth with intention and attention, all through a lens of resilience and gratitude.

“I have developed a passion for inviting and teaching folks to slow down,” Karen says. “Slowing down is so critical to learning to thrive. I have read what our Surgeon General said about loneliness in our country, and I so see the need for sharing in community.”

Through interfaith retreats and workshops, occasional 1:1 sessions and Words that Matter - a series of card decks encouraging positive affirmations for various life seasons as well as her newest tool in her toolkit Morning Altars, Karen creates room and space for those she companions to discover the wonder, the true Self and the Divine within so that they might have a deeper understanding of the beauty available to them in this thing we all call life!

This article was written by Emily Turner Watson. She is a trained spiritual director and writer.