Beauty is not monolithic––there is no one picture for it. Thinking beauty only exists a certain can blind us to the other ways it presents itself. This makes our world narrow and bland. It might even mean that we appreciate less. And when we don’t see the beauty in our lives, or around us we’re bound to squander it.
People And Things In Life
The beautiful things in our lives don’t always present themselves the same in every season or context. Some of the best people who’ll touch our lives in ways we’ve never encountered will not look or sound like the ones we’ve already met. And if we expect them to look like how we’ve come to expect we might miss the treasure they are.
Ideas that could have profound impact on us and others in our world might come draped in weird. And sometimes weird is its own beauty. Weird as in peculiar, unfamiliar. ‘Weird’ is sometimes beauty we haven’t seen or processed before.
How I Want To Live
May I never live a life that offers fleeting gazes at the unfamiliar, at the different or new. I want to live a life fast enough to see beauty in each moment, in each person I meet, and every place I find. May I always be awake to wonder and easy to wow.
I don’t want to be that person in the audience hands folded, donning, “You better impress me” scowl. Instead, I want my posture in life, work and towards people, to be, “There’s something to behold and I’m here to behold it.
I want to live a life open to surprise. Easy to be wowed. Appreciative of the diverse ways beauty not only presents itself but makes our lives richer. Not something to bear or endure but enjoy.
Even with things I have become familiar with, I hope to see again for the first time. May I never also stop seeing the beauty in what has become familiar.