It’s Everywhere

With some time and practice, I’ve made it my mission to see beauty–Everywhere.

It has gone from a Game, to a Practice, to a Purpose of mine. Sometimes it is, indeed, hard. But I have found that if I pay attention, beauty can be found everywhere.

I see Beauty……In the plastic colored flags strung around the metal poles that surround the used-car dealerships, above the dirty street, playfully whipping in the wind–without a care in the world.

I see Beauty……In the flowing grasses that cover the hills, accompanying me on a long commute. In fact, I begin to look forward to the messages of the waving grasses and the spiraling hawks overhead. The boring and arduous commute has vanished.

I see Beauty……In the dead of the Winter. I imagine naked trees shivering their cold trunks, until I look close and see thousands of cocooning buds in every branch. The warm bud embryos buzz with life. I listen. There is an undetectable hum accompanying their invisible transformations.

I see Beauty……In the darkest despair of a friend. Squeezing every drop of human feeling she feels through her human trials. Embracing all feelings, labeling none, I see the beauty in honoring our feelings, dark and light.

I see Beauty……Under a hill of torn blankets, as the smell of rotten living hits my nose, almost knocking me to the ground. I try not to choke on the booze, bodily fluids, and dreams gone bad. I barely want to touch this man, but it’s my sworn duty. And then I am taken aback–as deep, warm-brown beauty peers out underneath caked eyelids. I see my reflection in his eyes.

I see Beauty……In the aftermath of a fire. Homes destroyed, possessions turned to ash, and dreams melted. Other human beings rise to the occasion and offer amazing gifts of help and shelter and connection. Sometimes the best of the human spirit emerges out of tragedy.

I see Beauty……Underneath the spitting exteriors of a raging man and a bitter woman. I see their scared inner children. It’s ok. We are all scared children, somehow.

I see Beauty……As the one-winged crow turns his head left to right, and back again, his tail feathers pinned into a corner of the fence. The calculating felines gravitate, haughtily, from the north, south, east, and the west–until the human child takes a stand and guards bravely, long into the dusk, until mom can come and help.

I see Beauty……In a humdrum meadow, a common place to walk the dogs and run the kids. My eyes have become accustomed to the familiar dull, muted browns. But on this day, an early morning after rains, thousands upon thousands of spider webs appear out of the mists–decorating trees, bushes and shrubs—each a glistening Nature’s ornament. The old meadow is a wonderland.

I see Beauty.

Will you play this game today with me, dear friends?

Wishing you all the most spectacular view.