Enjoy the Normal
Take time to notice the normal and the beautiful. Even within the struggles of life, this is possible.
For me personally, looking for and staying aware of goodness and beauty is what keeps me between the lines, so to speak. It helps to balance out the more challenging parts of life — offering an alternative, along with a softening.
I also do my best make the deliberate decision to love my life and the time I have here on this beautiful Earth. We are so fortunate to even be here.
Do you know the odds of you and I being here, and being exactly who we are in this moment in time? It’s mind-boggling. What an incredible opportunity to have this experience, this gift.
So, in this post I wanted to offer you a few things I find beautiful, and the reasons why — simple everyday things we often look past.
I find so much beauty and inspiration in nature, and in photography. Many times within those captured moments of life it stops me in my tracks.
Instantly eliciting an emotion or a soft smile. Images hold such power. They link and connect us to the days we’ve lived, to each other, and to our beautiful planet. They offer us a real energy all their own.
I love to get lost in perusing through beautiful images or looking back at my own lived memories. What a gift photography is.
Morning is gift to us all.
This very morning when I opened the door to let Maizie outside I immediately noticed the sweetest sound. So many different birds singing their songs to the morning sun.
They were so happy to simply see the sunrise, and seemed compelled to celebrate it.
Taking a moment to pause and listen to the songs they were sharing brought a sense of true gratitude to me.
Such sweet and simple things as this abound in nature and all around us.
Like a field of flowers that seems to stretch into the horizon —
appearing to go on and on forever.
I grew up with wide open skies and land that stretched on for days. When I see images of beautiful fields of flowers or grasses, it sparks something familiar in me.
It feels like breath — filling the lungs then moving out into the vast and open sky, as if the earth herself is breathing — because she is.
I love the peaceful, quiet voice this gives, while asking only that we linger for a moment — in the moment.
Another simple delight for most of us is a morning cup of coffee. It's such a basic and routine part of our lives we can easily overlook it.
But true appreciation can show up when you take a longer look.
Breathing in that wonderful aroma or adding a thoughtful amount of cream to your cup, or simply sitting in your morning spot and watching the steam rise with anticipation of that first sip.
The next time you have a cup of your morning favorite — tea or coffee or something else, take the time to savor the process. It’s a nice feeling.
A sobering thought — these seemingly uncomplicated and normal things would take on an entirely new meaning if your ability to enjoy them were to disappear.
Something I realized a long time ago is that normal is so underrated. Most times we learn this by losing some aspect of our normal.
Only then do we realize that we would give everything just to have it back.
Don’t wait to notice and appreciate it all; the small moments as well as the bigger parts of your life. It’s easy to overlook, we all do it — I did it too.
Thankfully I now see with more awareness and know that normal is incredible — normal is wonderful.
The best parts of Life are found within the normal.
The message on my heart is to say — make the most of your glorious life. Nothing is promised and today really is, your past — your present — your future, all rolled into one.
See it — and appreciate it for all that it is.
It will be over in a flash - trust me on this. I have more years behind me than in front of me and I intend to do my best to notice and savor all the moments.
Of course there is heartache and suffering — it’s part of life, and some of us live with it daily. I truly know how hard it is to see the good sometimes.
But, I also know with certainty that we can turn our head and find something so beautiful and magnificent living right along side our struggles.