Ancient truths become new again, pleasure is good medicine. Beauty helps us heal, qigong meditation lowers stress, singing and dancing with others reduces anxiety and depression, good olive oil is beneficial in our diets…just a few theories scientists have recently announced they’ve tested and found true. I want to hug them all for their wide-eyed marveling at these “discoveries.”
Let’s consider beauty. War and fear streaming through our lives as news and entertainment take a ferocious toll on our wellbeing, becoming so all-pervasive we hardly notice them pounding away at us, dulling our vision, weighing down our hearts, poisoning our dreams. Here’s my prescription for an antidote: If beauty is in the beholder’s eye, let it be in yours. Let beauty excite your brain and lift your heart. It’s good for you.
Daily practice suggestions:
Add something beautiful to your environment, maybe flowers on the table, a seashell on your desk.
Notice new beauty in everyday things, the inside of a perfect avocado, the grocery checker’s smile…
Look for something beautiful to notice every day. Make a “beautiful things” calendar, noting beautiful sights, sounds, tastes, sensations you’ve enjoyed that day.
Make a beauty pilgrimage to a waterfall or an art museum, a concert or ballet. (Trust your own taste, make your own choices.)
Experiment with making something beautiful, a poem, song, painting, sculpture, piece of furniture or beautiful meal. If it’s beautiful to you, it is beautiful.
Write a list as long as you can make it of beautiful memories, then make new ones.
I’ve added a second Inspiration from the heART small group class this month, Saturday, April 13th, 1:00 -3:30 at my Westside Bend studio – music, laughter, painting, and this time we’ll have chocolate, too. See my March blog for more info, then call me at 541.390.9652 for details and registration, and about our monthly Chinese Essence Qigong class on Saturday April 27th, 9:30am – 4pm.