Isn’t Life Beautiful?
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. - Frank Lloyd Wright
The early-morning quiet is my time for reflection and prayer. The silence provides a suitable tabernacle for my soul. In the stillness, I consider the day to come.
My thoughts drift from the necessary and to the spectacular. I consider my day’s schedule, the tasks to accomplish and the appointments to keep. After checking off the must-dos, my mind goes deeper. It goes to a place absent of urgency – it goes to a beautiful place.
Our lives can be anything we choose to make them. We can struggle with the complexity or we can delight in the simplicity. We can be overwhelmed by the ugliness or we can celebrate the beauty. I choose to look for the beauty.
As the day begins, I pause and remind myself that what I have today can be taken away tomorrow. This is my life complete with setbacks and disappointments, but it’s also full of love and beauty. Gripping my coffee mug with both hands, I close my eyes and say a prayer of thankfulness.
I open my eyes to see our guest rising in the eastern sky and before starting my day I ask myself, “Isn’t life beautiful?”
Finding beauty
Making the choice to see beauty gives me an unfair advantage. My choice allows the opportunity to see life’s subtleties along with the obvious. This perspective gives me the power to appreciate every detail I care to acknowledge. This power is the perfect conduit to happiness. It’s the small things, as well as the large, that create my beautiful life.
Here’s a properly-sized window for you to look through. Perhaps if you do, you will become reacquainted with the beauty that is already a part of your life:
- While running the first mile I notice the sun breaking over the trees. It looks like a curtain rising on a new performance. Recognizing my stage is being unveiled for another day is a beautiful sight.
The sound of my heart beating after the four-mile run tells me my body is still strong and capable of enduring just about anything. The rhythmic vibration feels beautiful.
After showering and dressing for work, I walk back into the bedroom to wake my wife. For a brief moment, I get to see her see like no one else does. And in that moment, my wife is simply beautiful.
Driving to the office is my chance to listen to any song I want. I select a song and then allow the words to go deep inside so I can take in their beautiful melody.
At work, my time is typically spent solving problems. Behind each problem is a person trying to correct a mistake or someone just trying to get it right. Either way, problems have a way of bringing out a person’s best and revealing their amazing beauty.
As my children grow older I’m finding more pleasure in being their father. A telephone call from Brandon telling me about a new business opportunity, receiving a text from Caitlin with a grammar question, talking baseball with Andrew or getting a hug from Emily are the most beautiful things that happen to me during the day.
Returning home, I flip on the news and start preparing dinner. The warmth of my home fills my spirit with beautiful comfort.
When it’s time to write, I grab my laptop computer and find a quiet spot. Some evenings the words surprise me and on other evenings the words frighten me, but on all evenings I experience the beautiful healing the words bring me.
As the day draws to an end, I find myself in a beautiful place. Falling asleep next to my wife, the question swells inside me again, “Isn’t life beautiful?”
Before I drift to sleep, I hear my answer. It is clear, confident and full of promise. My answer roars in my head to the point it can sometimes startle me. My answer is my choice. It is based on how I choose to see my life.
My answer is yes.
Life is beautiful.
More from The BridgeMaker
Alex Blackwell is the Founder of The BridgeMaker. His book, How to Love Consciously, is now available as a free download here. Join Alex and The BridgeMaker community on Facebook and don’t forget to get your free subscription to receive free updates and exclusive content.
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Comments
30 Responses to “Isn’t Life Beautiful?”
What do you think?
Yes Alex, life is beautiful!!!
Reading your words remind me of each and every moment I live fully and intensely…
Yes the answer is the choice we want our life to be!!
I have been choosing too to see beauty in each moment, and yes it brings me to another level of understanding, care and love for life!!!
Indeed, how good it is, when I get in bed and have the smile of the day as I call it…
Life is amazingly beautiful
Thank you for sharing your powerful and insightful experience of life..
Life bless you and your family
Danielle
Alex, thanks for sharing a thankful, positive way to see a day unfold with wonderment. This is what I need to practice and get in the habit of doing before “stuff” clouds all the good that is present in my day.
Hi Alex,
The seeing your partner sleeping is one I can resonate with and have felt this way many times. Yes life is beautiful when we are aware and grateful. Amen!
You have put your thoughts so beautifully in words. Seeing the magic in life, subtle or big, is definitely a choice. You have nudged and inspired me in that direction today. Thanks
@ Danielle: Wow, I could really feel the power and confidence in your words. Keep looking for the beauty – you certainly deserve it!
@ Becky: Yep. It takes time to see through the stuff to see the beauty, but I know you are well on your way.
@ Tess: Beautiful indeed my friend.
@ Asha: Keep getting after it – your beautiful life is waiting to be claimed.
Thank you so much for this Alex. Today, this post was exactly what I needed. ^_^
Life is indeed beautiful. Its really up to us isn’t it, to choose to look at the light
Your words emanate the peace you write with and it comes right through the computer screen to touch us. Thank u for this. May u be blessed with greater beauty . God bless
@ Hannes: So glad you found it.
@ Uzma: I love the light metaphor. You are so right, we can choose to see darkness or light.
Alex,
Thanks for the inspiring post. It’s a great reminder that we can sit back and choose to reflect on things in a positive light. Even the little things everyday hold the power to provide inspiration and gratitude. Thanks!
You described life beautifully in this post!
This reminds me of Joseph’s story in Genesis 37-50 where he was thrown into a pit, sold by his brothers, then thrown into jail and rose to become the second most powerful man in the whole of Egypt.
When his brothers came to Egypt to buy grains, Joseph could have taken revenge on his brothers for betraying him. Instead, he chose to forgive them and reunite with his family.
As his brothers bowed before Joseph in fear of their lives, Joseph said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).
If we were to be like Joseph and trust that what was meant for evil in our life, God wants to use for our good, then Life is indeed beautiful!
The choice is ours. We can focus on our own bad experience and miss the joy that can be ours. Or, like Joseph, we can take the risk, venture out, forgive those who hurt us and truly believe that God has a greater plan for our future.
A lovely post. Thanks for sharing.
Amen.
Alex:
Thanks for the great reminder of how we can find loveliness in our lives if we just stop long enough to look. And thanking God for it truly opens our eyes to more.
Hi Alex,
I enjoyed how you took us along on a journey. As I cherish my 6 week of pregnancy (I am counting down!) to the time I spend with those closest to me. I choose Love I every moment. I transmute and transform all situations into love. It is definitely all about the ‘world inside’ rather than the ‘world outside’. Thank you for your simplicity in your words and the timeless reminder to cherish and appreciate all life has to offer. Thank You Alex
@ Joe: You are right – the little things can hold great power when we acknowledge them.
@ Alex: Beautiful story and very relevant – thanks for sharing.
@ Doug. Yes, showing gratitude can have amazing consequences.
@ Therese: Congratulations on your news! I wish you all the best.
This was a great read. Reminds me of how the little things in life that so often go unnoticed can bring me such joy. Things like the sun coming up in the morning, family, friends, etc. Sometimes I get so caught up into things that I forget to take a moment and appreciate this gift of life. Thanks for the post.
Beautiful- so well put!
I usually bound out of bed around 6:30 a.m. (a little too early if you ask me
I can’t wait to face a new day!
I am a Cancer survivor. I have always been an upbeat
person, but nothing makes you love life more than
almost losing it!
Beautiful post! What a great reminder to ‘live in the now’ and enjoy the present blessings that abound.
There is so much to be grateful for!
@ David: Your are right,life is a gift, a guest, that deserves to be treated very well.
@ Carolee: Awesome news – keep fighting!
@ Rachel: There are many blessings indeed. Thanks for reading.
Hi Alex,
Yes, life is beauty filled, delight filled, wonder filled…when I allow my heart to be open to the moment as it is presented to me..
I choose to celebrate the day from my waking thought: “Thank you for this day” to my last thought before sleep: “Thank you for this day”…and to find the good in all presented to me in between..Life is as beautiful and grand as I allow it to be..
Your life is beautiful because you see and recognize beauty in your life. Our lives are merely reflections of what we are thinking. Plus, what we focus on expands. You have given a great example and reminder that we can and should appreciate beauty and joy in each moment of our day.
@ Joy: We do create the beauty we see – thanks for this powerful reminder.
@ Suzy: You make a good point that what we focus on, grows. I hope you enjoy the beauty in your life, too.
Yah life is always beautiful and it would be…..look around you and your friends, family life is definitely beautiful
Beautifully said Durga.
Thank you very much! Your post is so inspiring. Before reading it I was very depressed by the fact that after a few days of spring there is again snowing in Moscow. But after reading the post I realized that it is very beautiful indeed!!!
Life is as beautiful as we make it Tatiana; no matter the weather!
“We can be overwhelmed by the ugliness or we can celebrate the beauty”
I spent all winter in darkenss with my dad passing, my husband leaving and so much bad coming out about what he did during our marriage I BASKED in the ugliness. With the Lords help and lots of strong family and friends I am coming out of that. Thank you for the article. I am going to share it on my blog page with your permission. Mair
Mair thanks for sharing your story. I hope you continue to find the beauty, too. Of course you may use this article on your blog. Take good care – Alex
Hi Alex,
Thank you for such a wonderful post! Yes, life is definitely beautiful and we can experience that beauty firsthand if only we allow ourselves to do so. It’s a matter of choice, how we want to perceive things and what kind of a filter we want to have.
Every since I read the book Ask And It Is Given, I’ve been doing daily rampages of appreciation, just telling myself and the universe what I like about life and why I like. Not only does it feel good to do so, but it also changes you on a fundamental level!
Many blessing & thanks again for a beautiful story!
Josip Barbaric
Thanks for reading and for the wonderful encouragement Personal Development
Hi Alex,
Great post! You are absolutely correct, life is the most essential ingredient and commodity in a person’s life, on which all things are built. In essence, it’s the foundation for all things. Thanks for the post, very inspiring.
And what a beautiful foundation it is Sonia! Thanks so much for stopping by.