In the midst of all the news of the violence and hatred and ugliness in the world in the last few weeks (months, years…?), we can sometimes lose sight of the sheer beauty and true awe-someness of our little part of the universe.
My good friend Liv Lane says that when we focus on the sweet stuff around us, the sweet stuff multiplies. When we look for beauty, we’ll find it.
Unfortunately, our brains have a built-in negativity bias, an evolutionary predisposition to look primarily for the possible threats in our environment. Neuroscientist Rick Hanson says our brains are like velcro for the bad, and teflon for the good. We need to make a little more effort to take in the good (Hanson says you need about 10-20 seconds to do this!)
I feel so fortunate that my family had the opportunity to spend the last week truly taking in the good, as we vacationed in gorgeous Cabo San Lucas, Mexico — sweet stuff indeed! My husband commented, “It’s absolutely beautiful in every direction!”
Today I invite you to take a break from the (admittedly, important) news sites, and simply marvel at the brilliance and magnificence of one small part of our world (photos courtesy of my amateur-photographer husband).
It is a wonderful, beautiful world.
“What a Wonderful World” (written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss)I see trees of green, red roses, too,
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue, and clouds of white,
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world.
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky,
Are also on the faces of people going by.
I see friends shaking hands, sayin’, “How do you do?”
They’re really sayin’, “I love you.”
I hear babies cryin’. I watch them grow.
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world.
*****
May you find beauty in your world today.
Peace–
Sarah
- A Mindful Approach to New Year’s Resolutions - January 13, 2020
- Just This Next Step - December 16, 2019
- WAIT: A Mindfulness Practice for Waiting in Line - December 9, 2019
