A Gentle Soul of Beauty
My soul goes clad in gorgeous things,Scarlet and gold and blue;
And at her shoulder sudden wings
Like long flames flicker through. And she is wallow-fleet, and free
From mortal bonds and bars.
She laughs, because Eternity
Blossoms for her with stars! O folk who scorn my stiff gray gown,
My dull and foolish face,~
Can ye not see my soul flash down,
A singing flame through space? And folk, whose earth-stained looks I hate,
Why may I not divine
Your souls that must be passionate,
Shining and swift, as mine!
· Fannie Stearns Davis
Choosing Beauty In Your Life
After climbing what seemed like an unfathomable number of granite stairs that rose high along Moro Rock in Sequoia National Forest, Margot turned a significant corner. Looking forward, she gasped. After committing to complete her journey one step at a time, Margot was met with a vision of breathtaking natural beauty.
With sore muscles from lifting and straining and a much lighter bank account, John settled into the leather sofa in his spacious living room. He sat in front of the window with the incredible view. Contentment filled his veins, literally flowing into each cell of his body. Satisfied, new homeowner beauty.
The last three months had dragged on more slowly that an inchworm making its way across the country from East to West. The last three hours had been more painful that she ever could have imagined. The last three minutes had been nothing short of miraculous. Eye contact for the very first time. Incredible newborn beauty.
Take a moment to connect and reflect upon three of your most recent experiences of beauty.
Do you recall them with all your senses?
Close your eyes and focus inwardly. Experience the beauty again, from a fresh new perspective.
What would it take to experience such beauty in each moment of each day?
Looking to our examples, there is a distinct pattern:
1. Choose to focus on the beauty, rather than on the less-than-beautiful.
2. Commit to the journey towards beauty, even when there are flashes of hopelessness amidst the positive.
3. Take continual, congruent action in your choices and your commitment to experience beauty each day.
Rachel Louise Carlson, American Naturalist, said "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." By observing beauty in your life, you naturally attract even more beauty. You will strengthen your heart and cleanse your spirit.
Decide to embrace and invite the beauty around and within you to flourish. The all encompassing beauty. Then live your life accordingly.
- © 2002, Contributed to Friday’s Inspiration by Julie Jordan Scott, a Life Purpose Coach who enjoys discovering what nature is speaking to her, following the lead of one of her favorite thinkers, Henry David Thoreau. She left her career as a government bureaucrat and built a successful home business in less than six months. She now combines mothering 4 children with inspiring people worldwide through her books, ezine, teaching and personal coaching. To contact Julie about complimentary coaching or living passionately through free email and teleclasses, visit her website at http://www.5passions.com/or email her at julie@5passions.com -To subscribe to her newest ezine, Daily Passion Activator, the Little Ezine with the Powerful impact, send a blank email to DailyPassionActivator-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
In the house of long life, There I wander.
In the house of happiness, There I wander.
Beauty before me, With it I wander.
Beauty behind me, With it I wander.
Beauty below me With it I wander.
Beauty above me, With it I wander.
Beauty all around me, With it I wander.
In old age traveling, With it I wander.
On the beautiful trail I am, With it I wander!
· An excerpt, translated from the Navajo original
Thinking and Living The Navajo “Beauty Way”
I guess I’m likely to put anything in my body!
I love spicy foods, and Mexican foods in particular. I’ve “treated” friends to my favorite homemade spicy dishes. A typical reaction to a dish bathed in my hot sauce goes like this: they smile and enthusiastically try a bite; their eyes open far too wide, they begin to sweat profusely and reach for the water to put out the flames in their stomachs; then, when voice and reason return, they nod and politely say, “Tasty.” They usually don’t come back.
One person commented, “I’ve heard of people who preach hellfire, but you’re the only one I know who hands out samples.”
Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but I’m likely to eat most any kind of food. And, though I exercise regularly, my body is starting to tell me to be more selective in my diet. I like the woman who stepped off the scale and was asked by her husband what the verdict was. “According to the height table,” she replied, “I should be about six inches taller.”
But more important than the food we put into our bodies are thoughts we put into our minds. Thoughts of bitterness like, “I HATE her!” Thoughts of despair like, “I’ll never be happy again.” Thoughts of fear like, “I could NEVER do that!” And thoughts of worry, thoughts of greed and thoughts of self-loathing. A constant diet of these killer-thoughts will destroy us long before cholesterol.
The Navajo people have an expression for this. They traditionally believe that how they fill their minds will shape their lives. So they want to fill their minds only with that which is good, harmonious and edifying. They speak of “thinking in the Beauty Way” – ridding their minds of all that is destructive and filling them with that which is good and peaceful. The Beauty Way is the way of love and contentment, peace and kindness, patience and courage.
What are you putting into your mind? James Lane Allen has said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” Fill your mind with life-affirming thoughts and tomorrow will find you further along the Beauty Way.
- © 2001 Steve Goodier, author and publisher of numerousLife Support System Books – Get a daily message of inspiration with a dash of humor from Steve. Visit Life Support at http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/ or subscribe to the Life Support newsletter by sending a blank email to: lifesupport-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
It is only through the morning gate of the beautiful that you can penetrate into the realm of knowledge. That which we feel here as beauty we shall one day know as truth.
· Friedrich von Schiller
Finding Beauty in A Worn Out Pair of Shoes
This morning it was his shoes. I was rounding up the garbage and sorting the recycle items, carrying them down to the street and looking around the place for any I had missed. Since the garbage can was only half full (another reminder of how much has changed), I wandered into that place where junk abounds – the garage.
The first item I tossed away was the broken snow shovel, then the hammer claw without a handle, then rusty nails in an old torn paper sack, and two small empty boxes tools had once occupied. And then – there they were. His old shoes. Nike sneakers. Once, a long time ago, white – now red with dirt from our undeveloped, unlandscaped yard. Dotted with splashes of dark paint the color of the trim on our old house. Splotched with blue from painting the porches on our new house. Matted with sawdust and mud from building steps and handrails in December to please the county inspector. Filthy, ugly, worn-out shoes that I had asked him to throw away a dozen times, but which he kept and wore and cherished. I think he never threw anything away. He was one of those you-never-know-when-you-might-need-it persons. But now he was gone and he didn’t need these shoes and I could throw them away right now. Into the garbage. Poof!
Then I looked at them, and saw the years of work – the painting, the remodeling, the building, the repairing, the digging, the sawing, the installing, the creating. So much of what he was and how he lived, and all the things he could do and loved to do were in those old shoes. And now nobody was in those shoes. And no one, I thought, could ever be in those shoes. He walked in them strong and able and confident. How ironic that these ugly old shoes were still here and he who walked in them was gone.
But – the decision was mine; I could throw them away now – if I wanted to. I should throw them away. Nothing was stopping me.
I set them carefully on top of the garbage and shut the lid. I waited. But I could not do it. I lifted them out and held them and loved them and cried for the man who had walked in them.
As I hugged those worthless shoes, I tipped them slightly and a tiny stream of what I thought were pebbles flowed downward from the toe of one shoe. The shoes had little rocks in them, I thought, from past digging and gravel spreading. I looked more closely. No. Not rocks at all, but pine nuts deposited by one of the squirrels in our woods – quite a lot of nuts – enough to last a frugal squirrel several days, perhaps a week.
Well – did I think those shoes worthless? Ha! Dar and the squirrels knew better! The shoes’ usefulness was never questioned by my husband. And now his view was born out by nature.
I set the shoes back where I had found them. They were much more needed as a safe place to stash a squirrel’s winter food than to adorn a smelly garbage dump. And somehow I am less sad, more reassured by this connection with nature. It pleases me, and I know it would please Dar, to know that a beautiful wild gray creature now walks in his beautiful old shoes.
- Thelda Bevens – Bend, OR
Michael
email: Michael@N-Spire.com
