I want to know if you can see beauty

even when it is not pretty everyday, 

and if you can source from your own life from its presence.

Despite whatever is aching in your heart, can you still see beauty? No matter the despair, can you see beauty?  The physical pain.  The loss. The fears and worries of being human.

Can you still see beauty?

I learned many years ago from some of the wisest people that beauty is available in every moment, no matter what is happening in your life.  You see, my teachers come to me in a long-term care center for individuals who have sustained a severe brain injury.

Life for them is definitely not what you and I might  (initially) see as a beauty.  Their life has taken a huge detour and what was once their dreams of a family, a career, freedom to come and go, to travel, to do….is all gone. They now live within the confines of an old, dingy, strange smelling building relying on others for the most basic needs.  Many in a wheelchair and most unable to move parts of the body. And yet, they see beauty.  Every. single. day.

How do they do this?

Simple.  They choose gratitude.  They choose to see the beauty of the everyday things that we may take for granted; our bodies with all of the signs of aging and flaws, our minds to think and plan and speak, our spirits which fill the space with light.  They see the trees in the subtle changes as seasons change.  They notice the briskness of the winter air.  They take in the taste of the foods they are given.  They see the beauty in another human as they share the struggles and loss of daily living.

They do not see the lack and the limitations.  They do not look at their bodies with disdain and judgment. They do not see their living space negatively.  They do not long for material items.

The simply see beauty.  Even when it is not pretty everyday.

Can you see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday?

I know I am going to strive for that and I am going to receive the wisdom that they have offered me.  Beauty.  Everywhere we just need to look.