It wasn’t the sunrise that caught my breath.
It was the sound of a bird, singing as the sun woke up. It was so melodic it made me listen, just lay still for a moment and listen to the bird’s song.
I was beginning to wake up. My alarm went off. I turned it off and just laid still for a moment. And there it was. One small bird beginning its day in song, no mic, no band, just one bird’s faint melody, moving me entirely.
That’s the thing about beauty.
It is present. It is right before us, waiting, just waiting for us to notice it.
More often, it finds you when you’ve finally stopped searching.
Later that same morning, I noticed a lily of the valley beginning to bud. It hadn’t flowered yet, just the smallest green buds formed. A moment I would have missed if I hadn’t paused.
So much of life rushes by unmarked, because we’re busy getting somewhere. But beauty lives in the places we pass without noticing: a bird chirping, a flower budding, a breath we didn’t know we were holding.
These are the moments that stay with me.
Not the big action item for the day.
The quiet ones. The almost-missed ones.
And maybe that’s what beauty is trying to teach us:
that the most meaningful things are often the most easily overlooked.
Here’s to what catches your attention.
To what brings you a pause.
To what gently reminds you: this is it.
— Jane
I could visualize this entire post!