Is there anything more beautiful than the late-afternoon sun-drenched, yellow, aspen leaves fluttering in the breeze against the bright blue sky? Not to me. But here’s the trick. I must slow down, I have to be still, in order to experience the beauty. I have lived so much of my life so fast I literally didn’t notice the beauty around me. My whole life, nature has been a way of helping me slow down and see. On Monday, I went for a hike in the New Mexico Mountains that I love near our rental property home and was amazed by the beauty that I saw in the golden aspen trees. But I couldn’t fully appreciate, be absorbed by it, unless I stopped hiking, stood still, or even sat down, and really saw the beauty around me, really experienced it, giving it my full attention. When I did stop and see, the beauty blew my mind. I was transfixed. It was absolutely amazing. But to let it in, to fully experience it, I had to be still.
How can we be still in body, mind and spirit in this high-paced world? Nature, itself, definitely helps, but practicing stillness in my daily life is even more effective. The last few years, I’ve had a very consistent meditation practice, once or twice almost every day. That stillness I’m baking into my life has allowed me to see beauty much easier in nature but also in things that are not in nature, to see beauty in art galleries, buildings, food, and people.
For example, before I started doing my meditation practice, I couldn’t even really see art. I would go into an art gallery or museum and my head would be talking non-stop with lots of ‘should’s and criticisms. I ‘should’ like this or I ‘should not’ like that. Or I would think, “I don’t know what makes good art or how to appreciate it.” It was non-stop chatter which kept me from experiencing the art. The stillness that I have practiced over the last many years has allowed me to quiet those conversations and be present. Now if I go into a museum or a gallery, I can see it. I can experience it without any story or judgment, I can sense if I am attracted to this piece of art or not without any justification. In this way, I can see beauty. And my life is so much better in every way because of it.
There’s beauty all around us and life is so much more enjoyable, so much richer, so much deeper when we see it. To fully see it, we need to practice stillness. What is your stillness practice? How do you see beauty? What do you find the most beautiful thing in the world?
This weekend, find some stillness and find some time to see the beauty that is always around us.
Enjoy it and let me know what you notice.
Have a beauty-filled weekend,
Art
#beauty #stillness #noticing #meditation #nature
