Tagged Beautiful Moments Practice
Beautiful Moments: Smoky Mountain Sweetness
Thought I would share some of the Smoky Mountain sweetness from my vacation in North Carolina last week. Enjoy!
Catching the rolling clouds overhead,
powerful forces of beauty
reshaping the landscape’s light and shadow
Admiring the flowing elements softly changing the earth,
inhaling the sweetness of less inhabited air
Finding a kindred soul while searching a cabin bookshelf,
reliving my pilgrimage through the written word
Beautiful Moments: Spring Rains, New Blooms, Entangled Time
Appreciating the rain,
cleansing
creating
Stumbling through the sky-
inverted images underfoot
Imagining the opening of the bloom,
wondering about the feelings:
timidity, curiosity, wonder, fear, courage?
Beautiful Moments for Lazy Sundays: Unexpected Symmetry, Tree Love and Touching the Earth
Finding delicate pink petals
on a brisk, fall day-
tastes of spring’s sweetness while on the autumn brink
Running my hands through tendrils of green,
feeling the soft vibrance growing from the earth
slip between my fingers
Examining unexpected symmetry
a blending of man and nature’s perfect beauty
creating art in the sky
Pausing on our path
to share our gentle love
fingers pressed to the skin of the trees
Remembering early-morning fishing trips
laughing in sunken mud
playing in the mist rising from the lake
while it dances in the rays of the sun
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This post is one of a series called “Beautiful Moments” based upon my Mindful Gratitude practice.
Where are you finding beauty this Sunday?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of the post or directly to me via the Contact tab.
Beautiful Moments: Dewy Spiderwebs, Crisp Morning Air and Mary Oliver’s Sunflowers
Hovering over the lines of Mary Oliver while the words take harbor in the hollow of my chest:
“Each one of them… like a separate universe
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy,”
Beautiful Moments: Toes in the Grass and Found Expressions of Joy, Love and Art
Finding unexpected art in an alleyway,
wondering about the person whose hands held the brush.
Connecting with nature,
feeling the life under rough bark and soft moss,
Beautiful Moments Practice: Cronuts, Commuting and the Artist’s Way
Stopped in traffic on my commute,
the sun following me, peeking through the trees
Watching students in the Mosaic program
turn bits of torn and tattered paper
into personal expression and community building
Smelling sandalwood and bergamot during my evening meditation,
darkness enfolding the quiet within
Feeling the crisp edges of fried croissant
(yes, fried- say hello to the cronut, the king of all donuts)
crunch between my fingers before I bite into
its sweet, buttery decadence.
Painting, sharing, exploring
with my fellow creatives in our Artist’s Way group
_______________________
These collected bits of time make up my Beautiful Moments Practice, part of how I express and reflect on Mindful Gratitude in daily life.
From where does your beauty come in your own life? How do you capture it?
“Beautiful Moments”: A Mindful Gratitude Practice
When I began my daily mindfulness practice a year and a half ago, I also began daily journals reflecting upon my practice and my life experiences. These books have become some of my most beloved possessions. I have used them in my writing to capture a moment in time that has passed, and I have used them to gain a new perspective when I was unsure which way to more forward.
They are a record written in my most personal moments, and yet strangely, they are also a source of objectivity for me. There are moments when I go back and review the pages to find kernels of wisdom I need at the present moment or to gain a sense of “what it was really like” when I feel like a time was particularly “good” or “bad” in my life.
My journaling has changed over time. My research on the benefits of gratitude evolved my writing to include more positive experiences. In short summary, individuals with a gratitude practice have more positive emotional experiences overall and live seven to nine years longer on average (Graham).
