Where Is Beauty?

“The ordinary occurrences become less routine, and more extraordinary with our attention to the little things in life,” says Boomer reader Darlene Edwards. In her essay, Edwards points to the beauty in life and how we can embrace it each day.

Walking in our neighborhood is one of my favorite activities to help stay fit. I pass by many of our neighboring homes, wave at familiar cars and faces. I even have the mileage calculated out to accomplish that day’s walk. Depending on how far I walk or the temperature, I might change directions a bit, but for the most part, the view is fairly routine.

During my walk, I may mentally make my to-do lists, groceries to pick up and errands to run. I may even review in my head my lists of items to be grateful for.

On this particular day, I was walking the neighborhood “loop” that took me past a fence near the road. The fence is a tall wooden fence with other plants along the fence line. Other plants were not in bloom, but one plant stood out to me and captured my attention. It was a beautiful hot pink against the backdrop of the fencing. Every pass by I made during that walk, my eye was drawn to the blossom.

When I finished the walk, I made my way to the hot pink flower that had caught my attention and took a picture. When I went home, I showed the photo to my husband who has an app on his phone. He told me I was looking at a Chinese peony. We talked about how pretty it was and how nice it looked in our neighbor’s yard.

The beautiful flower made me stop and look and appreciate that moment and wonder how often I might have overlooked other beauty in my day. It could have been the puppy I got to visit, the smile of a small child, or the kind words someone may have said. When we get busy, we may overlook the good that is happening, almost right in front of us.

On my same walking path, I have taken notice of other beauty around me, the majestic hawk that flew by or the bright blue bird that was coming out of a nearby bird box. For the last two mornings, a small cottontail rabbit hopped in front of me as I passed by. Nature’s beauty is definitely all around.

Other beauty in life can be enjoyed, too. Children playing, a special song on the radio, the aroma of a favorite dish, or the smile of your favorite person also show the beauty in life. When we truly look around, there are so many great moments of beauty to be experienced. Sometimes, we may not stop to recognize or enjoy these special moments in life.

Practicing keeping our eyes open to the special moments and the positive events that happen in a day, we can start to see how many great things are around us. They do add up. Maybe taking stock at the end of the day to count those beautiful things, like the flower I saw on my walk, I am more aware of life’s surrounding beauty. The ordinary occurrences become less routine, and more extraordinary with our attention to the little things in life.

Darlene Edwards and her husband have two daughters, a son-in-law, and a wonderful granddaughter. Darlene served in hospital administration for a large teaching medical center in Central Virginia.

Enjoy other contributions from Boomer readers in our From the Reader department.

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