I got this lovely recipe from one of my gym pals. It's the secret to her beautiful, flawless glowing skin she told me. It was the first thing I noticed about her, her gorgeous, flawless, baby soft complexion. The second was her sunny glowing personality. She was one of those people you have one conversation with and become instant friends. This morning when I was trying
out her recipe, with a few additional twigs and grass thrown in there for good measure, I was struck by how pretty it all looked and I had to pause and take a picture.
I was reminded of another friend who recently taught me about finding beauty in the most unexpected places. He is so talented he manages to find beauty in the most unlikeliest of things and a few days back I was looking at some pictures he had taken on a recent trip out of town. They were pictures of things that were so ordinary yet so beautiful. In those ordinary pictures he had managed to find something wonderful. Glimpses of God.
I saw God in the eyes of a cute fuzzy calf. I saw God in shafts of light that shone through the trees. I saw God in the grass that grew around a set of abandoned railway tracks. God was in a solitary yellow flower that appeared to be floating in a fuzzy aquamarine world. God was in a pair of crested cranes captured as they moved close together to form a shape that was unmistakably that of that cute little loveheart. God was everywhere. It was so good to look through the eyes of one who could see this. I learnt that everywhere where I can find beauty. I can find God.
I was reminded of another friend who recently taught me about finding beauty in the most unexpected places. He is so talented he manages to find beauty in the most unlikeliest of things and a few days back I was looking at some pictures he had taken on a recent trip out of town. They were pictures of things that were so ordinary yet so beautiful. In those ordinary pictures he had managed to find something wonderful. Glimpses of God.
I saw God in the eyes of a cute fuzzy calf. I saw God in shafts of light that shone through the trees. I saw God in the grass that grew around a set of abandoned railway tracks. God was in a solitary yellow flower that appeared to be floating in a fuzzy aquamarine world. God was in a pair of crested cranes captured as they moved close together to form a shape that was unmistakably that of that cute little loveheart. God was everywhere. It was so good to look through the eyes of one who could see this. I learnt that everywhere where I can find beauty. I can find God.
Beauty is such an elusive quality to define or describe, one uniting thread though is that it connects us to a deeper part of of us. I reconnects us to a higher truth, a higher power. That which we call God. That is why we have such an affinity for beauty. Why we like beautiful people and things so much. Why a lot of can go to some somewhat extreme measures to find it. In our Society, beautiful people always seem to get our extra special attention.
Beautiful people get through life easily and get things from people easily, they seem to just breeze through life getting everything they want. I like to think that this happens because they give a wonderful gift in return. People want to show their appreciation so they treat them well, they give something of themselves, they give their time, their love, their special attention. It is their way of saying thank you for making me feel so good, thank you for reminding me of who I am. Thank you for reconnecting me with that greater part of my Self.
The best cases of this are little children. I was spending the weekend with my niece and it is so wierd how strangers act when there is beautiful child around, they smile, the chat her up, they give her little gifts, some of them come and pat her head, she doesn't have boundaries so its easy for them to connect with her. She is so beautiful, she smiles a lot, she is open and she just spreads joy and love wherever she goes. Actually she is in so many ways my hero and my mentor. I want to be just like her and I am, when I feel beautiful I am. People are nicer to me, I get gifts, I get better service and I don't feel guilty about it because I know that by being beautiful and open and spreading joy I am giving a wonderful gift in return.
Beauty is a beautiful gift to give yourself and others. I learnt from my camera happy friend with a knack for capturing beauty on film that beauty is everywhere. All around us. It begins when you learn to see beauty in unexpected places, like in that lovely face of yours that may not look exactly the way you want. In that wonderful body that you still feel needs some work so it can be acceptable. Beauty is hidden somewhere in that child of yours that you sometimes find so frustrating, it's in your neighbour, it's in your car. It's in your friends and even in people that you would not consider your friends. Beauty is everywhere and once you know how to look it is so easy to find. Simply find something in it that you love and magnify that. Focus on it and watch it grow. Make it a habit to see beauty every where you go, you will be surprised how the world reacts to you and reflects back your own beauty.
It's a beautiful world. Celebrate it.
