With this string of gorgeous days filled with sunshine and mild weather I have been going out with my camera every day, sometimes multiple times per day. It feels like there is beauty everywhere I look. I see so much beauty, in my own
Backyard and Neighborhood
Last night I went for a short walk after supper carrying only my phone with me. The slant of evening light in the park beside the pond was so beautiful that I played with intentional camera movement and more using my phone camera.
This morning the wood ducks and mallard ducks were lazing at the edge of the pond and on the log at the edge of the pond. Such beauty!
I’ve been watching a mama mallard and her babies for about a week. Most of the day they disappear somewhere but almost every afternoon they spend some time in the grass at the edge of the pond.
These are…
Ordinary Miracles
to be sure, but miracles none the less.
In the springtime it’s easy for me to experience and see the miracles of life all around me. At other times it’s not so easy. But part of my reason for practicing mindfulness is to open myself to the possibilities embedded in ordinary life.
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
― The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
Looking for beauty in life is a way that I encounter miracles. Because when I slow down and pay attention I find beauty everywhere. This has been one of the many blessings of falling in love with photography — finding beauty in ordinary life everywhere I look. Even if you aren’t a photographer you can look for beauty in your ordinary life. It’s there, I know it is, because I’ve not stopped seeing and discovering it since I began looking for it.
I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don’t even know it.
― The Secret Life of Bees
Life is full of miracles, mystery, awe and wonder. Seeking out beauty, noticing the quality of light at sunrise and sunset, peering closely at a flower in bloom. The possibilities for finding and experiencing grace and awe in this perfectly imperfect world are endless.
Try it this week. Look for beauty, seek out ordinary miracles, notice how amazing life is.
May you walk in beauty.
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