Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Unexpected Beauty

What's beautiful to you?  A sunset?  A long stemmed red rose?  A set of candles at the dinner table?  

A walk around my bustling Berkeley neighborhood yesterday morning got me thinking about all the beauty that slips right past us....unless we slow down long enough to really look at what's there.

Take a quick look (30 seconds) at this photo!  What's the first thing you see?











Probably the first thing you noticed was the NO PARKING sign.  This probably made you cringe.  
In fact, this unsightly red sign might make you want to walk a little faster just to get away from it.

Now remember that it's not Thursday and slow down...way down.  Look way down there in that photo 
and see...

vine of rich purple flowers cascading up toward a beautiful blue sky!

Now look at this next one.  I almost walked right by it.  It's just a bush after all...or is it?

Luckily, the sun was out in full force yesterday and something shiny made me stop and take a closer look...




A spider's web glistening in the morning light...
each bead of water shimmers like a tiny star bursting with brightness, hope, and mystery...



There's so much unexpected beauty every day.  These are the things that we don't stop to notice unless we slow down and make a conscious choice. We can choose to notice these "little things" that made us gasp in wonder and awe when we were children.  

The unusual twists and turns of a tree trunk.  

The crisp smell of leaves in the Fall.  

The squirrels that run and jump like little gymnasts along the top of the neighbor's fence. 

All I can say is...BEAUTIFUL. 




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