Surrounded by Beauty

It is too easy to get down about the general affairs of humanity. That's why it's so important to develop an attention to the beauty that surrounds you in every moment.

















Granted, there are no doubt horrendous situations that can befall an individual--unjust imprisonment, the death of loved ones, torture, rape, brutal assault, the threat of violent death, constant pain, insufferable illness.

And yet even then, it is so often reported that those who survived found something within their immediate environs that sustained them. Perhaps a smile, a flowering weed, a bit of broken glass that caught the sunlight, a bird song. Something to lift them from the evil and grief that pervaded their lives, something that spoke of a better, kinder, more beautiful world.

I suggest that all of us engage in this awareness of beauty every day of our lives, whether we are living in the lap of luxury, beloved by many, or whether we are in abject poverty and seemingly friendless. In every moment, I see beauty. At this particular moment I see the shocking pink of my camera case, my sleeping dog, the bright yellow of a box, a houseplant on an end table, the varnished wood of a secondhand cabinet--all beautiful in their own ways.

I guarantee that making a practice of recognizing little pockets of beauty wherever you go will improve your attitude and by so doing send ripples of calmness, contentment, and gratitude to those you encounter and so begin a chain of goodness that touches the entire world.

Shown here are snatches of beauty that I encountered on morning walks with my dog. A good deal of rain has hit Southern California during the last week, and if you're observant, you'll see residual raindrops on leaves and blossoms.


Southern California is quite a place insofar as it often rains at night and is washed clean, bright, and gorgeous by the morning. Like Camelot.

I know that if each person would embrace a life of attending to beauty and giving thanks for it, that the world would dramatically change for the better. The powers that be want us to be afraid, insecure, disappointed, quarrelsome, unhappy. The best way to overcome evil is to live a life that does not feed evil.

As evil is fed by negative emotions--fear, anger, hatred, insecurity, disappointment, sadness, irritability, and hopelessness--the very best thing that you and I can do to create a happier, freer, safer, kinder, more loving, more sustainable world is to be beacons to the world of what we wish it to become.

See the beauty that surrounds you, wherever you may be. It may take the form of a lovely hue, a shadow or a ray of sunshine, a smile, a kind word, a burst of color in a drab environment, a subdued brown or gray, the silver paper that wraps a piece of gum, a flower emerging from a crack in a wall, a penny on a sidewalk, a plump cloud, a soothing breeze, the warmth of a fire on a cold day.

I am sure that if you look about the room in which you now sit, you will begin to see nooks of beauty everywhere. Delight in them, and bring that delight, that sense of wonder, brightness, openness, and awe into your interactions with others. Your improved sense of self and your heightened sense of the worthiness of the world will doubtless inform your every action, thought, and word.

This is how the world is changed for the better: One attentive moment to beauty at a time, one bright-eyed smile or kind word by one individual, one utterance of gratitude by another, one refusal to be sucked into the trap of fear and loathing, one life lived fully, surrounded by beauty in every moment.