Appreciating the beauty around us

This morning was one of those incredible mornings when I was absolutely taken with the beauty of my everyday world.

The air was still with the invigorating feel of fall's crisper days. Everything smelled so fresh and everything seemed so new.

I looked around me at the sky filling with color and felt, as I often do, overwhelmed with the beauty of the world.

I took an early morning stroll just to inhale the exquisite beauty of a perfect morning.

It was the same street I walk everyday. The same homes, the same scenery. But what was different, I believe, was my heightened sense of appreciation for the beauty of everyday life.

It made me think once again of that scene from Thornton Wilder's classic play Our Town when Emily returns from the dead for one day to view her life as it was before she died.

What stuns her is that no one seems to be fully aware of the sheer wonders of an ordinary day of life.

They go through life but they don't truly live it. They don't see the extraordinary gift of an ordinary day.

Emily realizes something she didn't key into when she was alive: Every moment of life should be treasured.

Emily voices this burning question: Does anyone truly understand the value of life while they live it?

Emily didn't ask if anyone tuned into the exquisite beauty of an ordinary day. But if she had, the answer would have been the same.

Wilder was making the point that we don't see what is in front of us. We live life, but we don't feel it.

This morning when I was tuning into the beauty of the day the thought came to me that it's impossible to truly comprehend the beauty of this world. It's hard to comprehend the beauty of our immediate surroundings, much less the rest of the world.

I was thinking this morning that truly taking in all the beauty around me is like trying to grab hold of the wind and keep it in my hand.

But I'll tell you this: My soul was alive to all that was before me this morning.

Instead of moving on to what I had planned to do that day, I decided instead to spend a little time just zeroing in on my surroundings, appreciating all before me.

I watched a flock of Ibis digging for grub and a nearby squirrel that might have been looking for its breakfast, too.

I watched the way the sun changed the color of the waterway as it rose higher.

The water was smooth with nary a ripple, except for a few jumping mullet. A family of ducks came into view as they played their dunking game.

Some would say it was nothing extraordinary--just everyday scenes from an ordinary day. Yet, I noticed when I really tuned into what was before me, my breathing changed. It slowed and I found myself breathing more deeply as I was filled with contentment.

Contentment turned to laughter when a tiny bird sang the loudest, most insistent song, telling me to pay attention.

I don't why it is that birds have a positive effect on me but I do know that for me birds are almost magical. They often make me smile. Sometimes I can be mired in worrying about a particular problem but the song and sight of bird can melt my worry and lift my mood. In my mind, there is something about the wonder of even the smallest, plainest bird that makes me think of the Creator of it all.

Just as I treasure the wonders of what I see all around me, that also extends to those I encounter during my day. Experience has taught me that everyone has something worthwhile to offer.

Experience also has taught me that first I have to suspend any tendency to prejudge people. I often have found the most appealing individuals sometimes come in the plainest wrappers …and the most interesting people are often those I first assume I will find nothing in common. But when we start talking, I feel like I struck gold - the gold of getting to know another special person.

I was recently seated at a table with a frail, elderly woman I didn't know. She didn't look like she had enough stamina to talk and when she did her voice was so low I had to strain to hear from. But what emerged was a fascinating story about her interesting life. Because I gave her a chance, I got to know another interesting woman.

Too many people don't see the gold in front of them. They don't see the beauty of the day or of the people around them.

I was sitting on a bench at the bay when a woman sat beside me, immediately grumbling about her boss and her co-workers. None of them were any good, she said.

So there she sat, unseeing of the beauty before her while her mind was filled with wrath.

I suspect she misses a lot of beauty in this world - both in her surroundings and in the people around her.

We can open our eyes and appreciate the beauty before us. Or, we can miss out on the grandeur of it all.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.