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Coveting Beauty

Rainbows are a lot like ALL things of beauty. The closer we get to them, the more we try to possess them, the less beautiful they become. In the case of rainbows, they just disappear altogether.
Have you ever tried to chase a rainbow? Maybe find one of the ends? It’s impossible.
I recall once as a young man driving to find the end of one. No luck. It landed me in the middle of a field looking up and not seeing the rainbow at all. So I drove away. Once I got a distance away, all of a sudden I could see the rainbow again. It then occurred to me that I WAS at the end of it. I just couldn’t see it. You can’t SEE it when you’re in it.
Beauty can not and should not be possessed, it must roam free. We must learn to be content appreciating beauty where it is, and from where we stand.
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Growth is outside our comfort zone.

We can’t be better unless we try something new.

The first step in our becoming the next best version of ourselves is always in doing something we don’t quite feel comfortable with; something that makes us nervous, Something out of character, and/or something that puts something we value at risk.

This action doesn’t have to be grand. It can be tiny. As tiny as:

  • Talking to a stranger we have no reason to talk to.
  • Finally getting the nerve to ask that woman out on a date.
  • Trying sushi for the first time.
  • Taking a seminar on …… blacksmithing, for no other reason than pure curiosity.
  • Taking a drive to a part of town we’ve never been before just to see what is there.

Not only does taking a small uncomfortable step give us the courage to take a bigger step next time, BUT it also potentially exposes us to new ideas, new possibilities. Yes, even the smallest of actions can do that for us.

We should do one thing every week, one small thing, that makes us feel uncomfortable. Do this every week, and in just a couple months time we will see a difference in ourselves.

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Dust If You Must (a Minimalist poem by Rose Milligan)

Dust If You Must

 

Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better

To paint a picture or write a letter,

Bake a cake or plant a seed,

Ponder the difference between want and need?

 

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,

With rivers to swim and mountains to climb,

Music to hear and books to read,

Friends to cherish and life to lead.

 

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there,

With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,

A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.

This day will not come around again.

 

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,

Old age will come, and it’s not kind.

And when you go – and go you must –

You, yourself, will make more dust.