January 12

Today's quotation:

If you look for ugliness, you will find it
everywhere.  When you look for beauty,
you will find that everywhere.

Narayana

Today's Meditation:

There's a very simple rule in life that seems to be too simple to be true:  the world in which we live is a result of our own perspective and the way that we see it.  What we see in the world determines to a large extent how we react to it, and our reactions cause the world to change, causing new reactions.  The world is a mirror, and only if we're able to see and appreciate our own beauty will the world become beautiful and magical.

I know of someone who calls the Grand Canyon a "God-forsaken hellhole."  I've seen people glance at astonishing rainbows and then look away, not even giving a second glance.  These people are robbing themselves of an opportunity to nurture themselves, to strengthen themselves by building up a storehouse of wonderful memories in what Wordsworth called the "mind's eye" of memory and recall.

Everything in life is reciprocal.  We get what we give, and we're able to give only to the extent that we allow ourselves to get.  The world is full of marvels--yourself included--and you can choose to see them and appreciate the beauty in them, or you can choose to see the ugliness and awfulness that some people exhibit when they've reached very low points in their lives.

Is that just a tree, or is it an amazing living being that produces the oxygen that keeps us all alive?  You choose how you want to see things and how you want to react to them.  It's worth considering that if you see the beauty and send out your appreciation for that beauty, then appreciation and positive feelings and thoughts will be coming back to you.  Seeing the beauty in the world isn't just a question of putting a label on things.  It's a way of life that nurtures life itself, and thus nurtures us ourselves.
Questions to consider:

How might we get into the habit of not recognizing and responding to the beautiful things in life?

Can you see something beautiful right now that you haven't really recognized as beautiful before?

What does it mean when we say that the world gives back to us exactly what we give to it?  Is this true?
For further thought:

The beauty is forever there before us, forever piping to us, and we
are forever failing to dance.  We could not help but dance if we
could see things as they really are.  Then we should kiss both hands
to Fate and fling our bodies, hearts, minds, and souls into life with
a glorious abandonment, an extravagant, delighted loyalty, knowing
that our wildest enthusiasm cannot more than brush the hem of
the real beauty and joy and wonder that are always there.

Margaret Prescott Montague

  
  

  

  




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