Hello Beautiful

I went to a new cafe today (I often explore the options with a friend) and sat awhile quietly with only a notebook after my friend had left. I was thinking about beauty, about how the decor and ambiance of the cafe was a respite from the chaos of the street on which it is located – full of construction, plain architecture and broken concrete. I thought about how there are so many beautiful – stunningly so – places in this world, and how often vacations take us to these places. And yet, in each day, without going far at all, I can find the small moments of beauty – the way the sun dapples through the branches as I walk on a path, the lighting in the cafe, the trees in the breeze. They aren’t as arresting perhaps or as sustainable – by definition they are fleeting – but they are there, and in seeing them, I feel I am enriched. That was what my focus was on today, and often times, in a regular day: not on the construction, or the broken pieces (which in themselves can be beautiful), but on the beautiful and interesting pieces of landscapes and life. That is often the way I try to notice the positive: find the beautiful thing not the negative thing.