Noticing beauty is a small act of honoring the sacredness in life. Look for beauty and then notice your response to it. Perhaps you find beauty in the plants and flowers in your neighborhood, or the way the light glitters along the windows of a skyscraper. Will you find beauty in a person’s smile, an animal, a song you adore? Beauty is everywhere – just look for it. Then, notice your response. How does the acknowledgement of beauty make you feel? Do you feel attracted to it and desire to take it and own it for yourself? Do you feel a critical thought, or diminished in the presence of beauty? Where does your mind go when you see beauty in your life? Reflect on how your mind responds to beauty. There is so much more I can say about how we respond to beauty – it’s a topic fraught with illusions perpetuated by the drama of cultural constructs. I feel it’s important to cut to the chase here and explore how noticing beauty is a simple way to nourish the soul.
Noticing beauty is a way to open your heart to experiencing the truth within life. It creates a pathway for you to then give thanks for that beauty, and in doing so you give thanks for the beauty within you. The beauty you perceive is a reflection of your beauty. When you recognize beauty you are recognizing the truth of your beauty – a beauty that radiates from your soul. The simple act of noticing beauty acknowledges that beauty of which you are a steward. The beauty you are born and constantly wishes to grace life with its truth and be acknowledged. Maybe not in an overt “look at me” sort of way, but in whatever way your soul longs to be expressed. This nectar of acknowledgement tends the relationship between your psyche and your soul, a relationship that, like any other relationship, needs regular tending and care.
As I go about the frantic scramble that feels like my life these days noticing beauty seems frivolous and inconvenient. I’ve got emails to answer, orders to fill, too many loads of laundry to count, and a whole lot of cupcakes to frost (my youngest just turned 8). Beauty? Well, maybe the emails are answered with care and the orders are packed with love… but that’s not what I mean by noticing beauty. Maybe the laundry can be fun (let’s get real, it’s never fun) and the frosting part, well I know it will be sweet… but that’s not really what I mean either. Maybe if I just pause for a moment – like that thing our hearts do in between beats – and look out my window I’ll notice the beauty of that spiderweb I’ve been walking by for the past few days. I’ll actually see it this time and notice it’s fragile strength heavy with rainfall. A persistent, quiet expression of spider spirit – a truth materialized into a thing of beauty.
o.
SPIRIT PRISM 