Practice of the Week
Find Beauty
Find Beauty
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness." (John Keats)
Adapted from Rick Hanson, Just One Thing.
Beauty is that which delights the senses -- including the "sixth sense" of the mind.
Different people find beauty in different forms and places. You don't have to go to a museum, listen to a symphony, or eat a gourmet meal to be in the presence of beauty.
For example, here are some of the (maybe strange) things I find beautiful: A clump of grass in a sidewalk crack. The horn of a train as it moves away. The smell of cinnamon. The curve of highway cloverleafs. Kitchen knives. The faces of nurses. Courage. Falling water. A glazed donut. The touch of cashmere. Foam. Frisbees. Snakes. Geometrical proofs. Worn pennies. The feeling of catching a football.
What are some things that are beautiful to you?
There's so much beauty all around us. But I think that for many people, there is little sense of this. That was certainly true for me before I started deliberately looking for beauty. And then we wonder why life doesn't seem very delightful!
What do you feel when you encounter beauty, including in its everyday forms? Perhaps your heart opens, something eases in the mind, there's pleasure, and your spirits lift. The experience of beauty relieves stress, nourishes hope, and reminds us that there's much more to life than grinding through tasks. The sense of beauty can also be shared -- have you ever admired a sunset with a friend? -- bringing you closer to others.
How
Take a few moments each day to open to beauty. Really look at the things around you -- particularly at the ordinary things we tend to tune out, such as the sky, appliances, grass, cars, weeds, familiar views, bookshelves, or sidewalks. Try the same with everyday sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Also seek out lovely memories, feelings, or ideas.
When you find beauty, feel it. Open to a growing sense of boundless beauty above and below and stretching in all directions, like you're floating in a sea of rose petals. Recognize the beauty in others, in their character, choices, sacrifices, aspirations. Understand the beauty in noble failures, quiet determination, leaps of insight, and joy at the good fortune of others. Hear the beauty of a parents voice soothing a child, of friends laughing, of the click and clack of a teacher's chalk on the blackboard. See the beauty in the face of someone at the very beginning of this life, and see it in the face of someone at the very end.
Recognize the beauty in your own heart. Don't duck this one: as others are beautiful, so are you
Make beauty with your hands, your words, and your actions.
Even the breath is beautiful. Breathing in beauty, let beauty breathe you.
For Journaling
Every day for a week, describe what you encountered that was beautiful that day.
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