Dec. 3- Beautiful things

Beautiful Things: What brought beauty into your life this year? Was it a tangible thing or something intangible? Tell us about it in detail.

There was a lot of beauty in my year. I would say it ten to one outweighed anything ugly that happened.  I went to beautiful places, I saw beautiful people, I heard beautiful sounds and smelled beautiful smells. 

Being in the moment brings out the beauty in the world for me.  And when I can stop and really be where I am and what I am doing, anything that was negative can be turned around. 

For instance, today I was going to a meeting away from my house at 9am.  I left the house at 8.40.. I didn't make it in time, realizing as I was almost there that I needed to have been there at 8.30 and showing up at quarter past nine wouldn't work. 

It's cold and grey and rainy today, there I was out of bed early on Saturday (but not early enough!) having missed the meeting standing on the side walk starting to curse myself for not having it together. 

But then I stopped and said, well I'll walk up to the subway, I grabbed a V8 and then decided, well I'll just walk to the next stop, I haven't been in the neighbourhood for while and why not.  The next stop brought me to the park and instead of turning left into the subway I crossed the street and headed into the park. 

As I walked through the park with the rain coming down I started to feel refreshed and alive and realized again, how beautiful it is in the park.  And then I stopped, alone, in the rain and just listened to the sounds a forest makes on a day like today. And it is a beautiful cacophony of sound.  Then I noticed a dry patch under a cedar tree, and remembered that there is always a safe haven in a forest, that I could take shelter if I needed a break from the rain.

Those are the most beautiful moments of the year, when I'm able to pull myself out of something negative and turn it into a challenge or a memory.