Day 4: Beauty Out of Ugliness
Today I am grateful for rest and rain. The rest washed away my negativity and the rain washed away more of the winter grime.
Day 4 of Everyday Gratitude at www.gratefulness.org focused on the beauty that can come out of desolation and despair, or just typical daily drudgery.
The guiding quote and question kept slipping my mind yesterday, until I went for my run after work:
As I considered this, I thought first of other people and what they are going through. People like my friends Sheila and Dave. People like my sister Mary Jo. And several others. Grace and dignity. Raw human emotions. There is a deep beauty in it all, a genuineness derived no other way. Ugly doesn't win.
It took me until during my run to get some clarity on how this might apply to me currently. I thought of aging. Some would consider it an ugly process. I consider it a gift to grow older, to get a new day. My body has hung in there with me in so many ways. We are friends on this aging journey.
I thought also of toxic emotions, ugly feelings, and how they come out in poems and other writings. The most difficult of my thoughts and feelings, the deadly kind, came out decades ago. And that writing saved me. I still get some toxicity now though, and I turn to writing to help me process and release. It always helps.
Ugly doesn't win. When I live gratefully, true beauty wins.
Day 4 of Everyday Gratitude at www.gratefulness.org focused on the beauty that can come out of desolation and despair, or just typical daily drudgery.
The guiding quote and question kept slipping my mind yesterday, until I went for my run after work:
"Though you may not be able to change it, you can handle an ugly situation beautifully."
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
"What situation is offering me the opportunity to handle it beautifully?
As I considered this, I thought first of other people and what they are going through. People like my friends Sheila and Dave. People like my sister Mary Jo. And several others. Grace and dignity. Raw human emotions. There is a deep beauty in it all, a genuineness derived no other way. Ugly doesn't win.
It took me until during my run to get some clarity on how this might apply to me currently. I thought of aging. Some would consider it an ugly process. I consider it a gift to grow older, to get a new day. My body has hung in there with me in so many ways. We are friends on this aging journey.
I thought also of toxic emotions, ugly feelings, and how they come out in poems and other writings. The most difficult of my thoughts and feelings, the deadly kind, came out decades ago. And that writing saved me. I still get some toxicity now though, and I turn to writing to help me process and release. It always helps.
Ugly doesn't win. When I live gratefully, true beauty wins.
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