Moments of Beauty

I was walking Weewolfe, the wonder collie, the other evening and caught myself pondering the many moments of pure beauty available to us should we just open ourselves to their possibility. I'm probably indulging an old cliche; however, it seemed a good opportunity introduce an ongoing series providing respite from much of what else I intend to post...

Moments of pure beauty: pausing to freeze a specific point amidst the hubbub, chaos, confusion, and difficult feelings of our lives and recognize the pure joy, the pure wonder and magic of our living experience. Pausing to savor and appreciate such a moment sloughs away the compounding antagonisms and we can immerse ourselves into coming back to feeling the natural breath of life. We can come back to existing within that gift of being fully present with and appreciating our lives.

For me it sometimes feels that the complexity of the given moment varies inversely to the extent of chaos in my life. My brain swirling with all the trappings of adult life--of course: the pending bills, that project at work, or the fact that the freaking squeal from the truck's brakes is back--I am stopped dead in my tracks to wonder at the perfect crystals of hoar frost encrusting a clump of winter's dead grass...

















I am dazzled by its jewelry and no longer lost to the more detracting aspects of life or sadly resigned to the coming cold and darkness of winter.

The moment can be pausing to re-appreciate the company of a companion, even though you may have recently had a spat...

[Note: don't let the dog tell you otherwise, I only rolled in that road-killed porcupine for a moment. Not enough to really get myself stinky or anything.]

As darkness continues to descend, I pause to wonder about that bend in the road and the noises just out of sight...

Appreciating the uncertainty of what lies beyond, as opposed to fearing the bear that just might be there...

Opening myself to the beauty of these moments, I can savor the quiet of the evening, the feel of light snow just beginning to fall, the cold bite to my nose and cheeks, and the crunch of frozen gravel under my shoes. I can smile and find a stillness within myself that matches that of the evening.