Seeing the beauty everywhere

I look back at my pictures of this Summer.  Of Snowdonia, of Morocco.  I look at Instagram.  Those beautiful Instagram pictures by amazing photographers!  I cannot get enough of the beauty.  I gaze at pictures of Snowdonia and other fabulous landscapes and just wish I was there!  All my thoughts of living in the present moment evaporate as I recall treasured memories of Llyn Gwynant and the surrounding area.  All my thoughts of living in the now fade away as I long for a distant future of travelling, walking and exploration.

I set out on my usual dog walk this morning, dragging a reluctant little dog behind me.  I was going to do my usual route – this does not require thinking – I just do it.  I know it takes an hour; I know it is just over 5k; I know that it will hit a big chunk of my daily steps.  But – this morning I turned right instead of left and headed for the park.

Now some of you reading this (if anyone does!  I need more subscribers – insert sad face) will say “You stupid woman.  Why don’t you go to the park every day?  It has to be prettier than the streets”.  And you will have made a very sound point.  I don’t know the exact reason why!  I know that the route I take is my old 5K route in my running days.  I remember that Pretzel used to be really nervous of people and dogs so the park would have been a little too much for her.  Maybe it is just habit, though.  I don’t know.

As I walked I listened to the latest Russell Brand podcast (well worth listening to by the way!  A live conversation with Radhanath Swami).   I walked thinking of those beautiful pictures and images of mountains, beaches, oceans.  I entered the park on this cold, dark winter morning.  At first all I could see were sad, unhappy, brown colours and bare trees.  Then I began to look properly and saw that there was beauty…  I took off my gloves, took out my phone and started taking pictures of trees, ducks, the lake.

So yes – I will continue to look at pictures of Snowdonia, Wales, the rest of the world.  I will make plans to visit some of these places.  But I must live in the present and see the beauty in now.

And that is the secret to happiness, I think!  Or at least one of the secrets.  I must look at the beauty.  Whatever is happening, wherever I am, whatever I miss or yearn for – in all of this there will be beauty somewhere.  I could concentrate on the negative emotions – on pain, regret, yearning, sadness.  I could look at what is wrong with my life.  I could keep wishing away the winter.  OR I could look beyond those things to the beauty which exists in life.