When we think about nature, what usually comes to mind is the idyllic, alluring, relaxing, energizing environments that stoke our imagination and feed our soul. Precious time spent with loved ones on "vacation" in places special to our hearts often hold those moments when we feel truly alive, seen, and intertwined with the living beauty all around us. Enmeshed in unhealthy patterns during "normal" daily life, we grow accustomed to toxic environments, unhealthy relationships, or lackluster routines that drain us of life and wholeness. What would happen if we flipped the narrative?
Imagine that every day is like your favorite vacation. Your soul awakens to adventure and longing for new horizons. Your imagination enters every portal into other dimensions of what might be, other realities that leave you pulsating with hope and energy. You feel invigorated and delighted, malleable and open. You fall in love again with life. And it's just an "ordinary" day. How do we do this?
Go outside to live deeply. Place your feet gently in the soil. Breathe in the aroma of earthy goodness. Enter into the miracle that is your back yard, garden, or deck. If you don't have one, go to the park or wherever the nearest fresh air, trees, and water call to you. Just do it. Breathe. Pay attention. Learn something. Dream a while. When you awaken fully to what you most love about creation, beauty finds its homing inside you. It peeks out of every smile, every tear, every word you utter. You are beautiful because beauty lives within you. It is the universe taking up residence in your soul.
Take a look at these - they're called slime molds - and try not to smile:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/slime-mold-smart-brainless-cognition/
What are slime molds? We don't exactly know. But arent' they beautiful?
No matter where you live - and most people do not live in an Edenic oasis - you can pay attention to what is beautiful to you. You can invite that beauty into your dwelling, into your soul. Beauty counts. Savor it.
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