Tag: Beauty

Pause to find the beauty of life in the smallest of moments

Pause to find the beauty of life in the smallest of moments

Courage To Change – October 20, 2019

Life is busy, insanely so most of the time. With technology driving us at an even faster and more connected pace, I find the need to pause becoming even more compelling. When life has been reduced to a blur of images and impressions, taking a moment to find the beauty in life allows a reset at my deepest levels. A bird in flight, a child’s smile, a fully formed flower, life will impress you and leave you speechless, if only you pause for a moment to see it.

Quick and Simple Disclaimer: The readings in this post are literally taken wholesale out of the book entitled Courage to Change. You can find it at Amazon, Here. The portion entitled Alleged Insight, well that mess is all me.
If you’re an introvert, go buy the book, if you’re a broke introvert, the text from many good books can be found HERE , if you’re in dire straits however, go find an Al-Anon Meeting, it saved me.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Today’s Reading

As a child I would get down on my hand sand knees for the longest time, just to watch a caterpillar crawl around. It never seemed to go very far, yet I patiently waited just in case it should do something spectacular. It never did, but I didn’t mind, because simply watching this peculiar looking creature gave me pleasure.

Remembering this makes me question how many such precious moments are passing me by unnoticed because I am so focused on other things. Before Al-Anon, I spent years ignoring life’s beauty because I was too busy trying to get all the alcoholics’ to stop drinking, and in recovery I’ve lost many, many hours waiting to solve a problem or be freed of a character defect. Today I am learning to make room in my life for the wonder life has to offer.

Today’s reminder

I am learning to choose where to focus my attention. Appreciating life’s simple gifts may take some practice, but as I become more aware of the beauty that is all around me, it gets easier to appreciate the beauty within.

“Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful…”

Just for Today

Alleged Insight:

Where to start? Yeah, guilty of this big time. The reading isn’t 100% accurate for an ACOA or y’know, not the actively chasing and battling an alcoholics’ behavior. But the mindset still applies. Getting lost in waiting, busyness of life, and general chaos.

Have you ever just stopped and watched the honeybee flitting across the dandelions that come up in spring? Does the baby’s (or toddler’s) laugh get overlooked in the noise of life? How many moments do you catch in a day, how many do you miss? It takes a good intentional focus to pick up on them, otherwise they get lost in the chaos.

To be constantly hemmed in by other’s perceptions, external pressures and society’s demands, it’s exhausting; but more importantly, it’s draining on a physical and psychic level. To recovery our physical energy we need good food, and proper sleep (two things that are in increasingly short supply, inversely proportional to the number of children you have).

How do you recover your mental energy, that driving fuel of the spirit, the desire to get up and be okay, to feel good and content/happy/complete? Well, the world will provide, but you need to take the time to find it. You need to pause for a moment in the middle of the busy noise and find the beautiful moments that spark joy and replenish your soul in life.

Closing thoughts:

Children are a joy, life is a blessing, and chaos in the normal state. Sometimes you need to take a moment for yourself to see the beauty. You should not feel guilty for taking that moment. Without the depth of character and identity created when you take that time to round out yourself, you will end up feeling like a transparent version of yourself, washed out and maybe only half a person. We all need those moments of joy and blessing that God bestows on us when we least expect it.

Duke.

External Links:

A song that comes to mind from this reading is here:

George Strait – I Saw God Today

https://youtu.be/Sp1N9l5-qtk