"It could be said that to find beauty in the ordinary is a deeper exercise than climbing to the mountaintop…."
Cole Arthur Riley
I love climbing to the top of any hill or mountain. I mean it, I really am wired for going uphill. Maybe it started when I was young. Our family lived on the lower part of Queen Anne Hill and our school was located at the top Queen Anne. My walk to school always began with a climb uphill. I suppose it could also be that I am gifted with large and powerful calf and quad muscles too. Whatever, I love going uphill and definitely has had its rewards.
After I graduated from college, I got really interested in climbing. I took the Boeing Alpine Club climbing course and immediately started climbing as many of the mountains in the Cascades and Olympics as I could. After each climb it was always about getting to the top of the next mountain. In fact, for a short while I was training and signed up to climb Denali but health problems came up and I never ended up climbing Denali.
Some of my favorite memories was watching the sun come up as you were ascending to the top of some of the major peaks in the area like Mt Rainier, Mt Baker or Glacier Peak. The beauty of the mountain top experiences was "intoxicating" for me and I could not get enough of it. Yet, getting to the tops of these peaks was long and difficult and dangerous and required all my effort and especially my full and undivided attention.
Here are a couple of images from those "climbing experiences". I discovered an old box of Kodachrome slides that I still had!
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we will find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This idea of beauty residing at the tops of mountains is true but there is also another path to beauty that I have also discovered later in my life. It is the path of wonder and awe in the ordinary moments that we experience everyday. The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson above, speaks of caring the beautiful within us. What does he mean here?
I believe he is speaking of the practice of beholding the beautiful in the ordinary around us. It is true that this can be more difficult to do than climbing a mountain because of our busy and often distracted minds.
I have discovered the cultivating of inner stillness has opened me to seeing more beauty in the ordinary. One of my favorite theologians to read is Howard Thurman for he often speaks to the importance of inner stillness as an important pathway to seeing beauty. Here is a good example of what I mean.
"As a seminary student walking home late one night, Thurman noticed the sound of water. He had taken this route many times, and he had never heard even a drip. The next day Thurman discussed his observations with one of his professors, who told him that a canal ran underneath the street. Because the noises of streetcars, automobiles, and passersby were absent late at night, Howard could discern the sound of water...."
How often I miss the the "sound of water that is running under my feet" due to my scattered and distracted mind. How often I can feel scattered as I try (unsuccessful mostly) to multi-task and my attention is going in small bursts everywhere. Distractions abound in the times we live in today and it has become harder to still our minds enough that we might be able to be attentive to the present moment. That is how I miss the beauty in the ordinary moments of my day. Too scattered and distracted.
I have had more success lately though with training my attention so I am not feeling as scattered. My success has come from the practice of slowing down my thinking mind which I practice everyday. In fact, the word "attention comes" from Latin, meaning "to stretch toward". I have decided stretching my "attention muscle" each day for 5 to 15 minutes is how I build my "attentiveness muscles".
I recently came across this quote from the poet, Mary Oliver:
“This is the first, wildest and wisest thing I know: that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attentiveness.” Mary Oliver
Our soul, our very essence, or "beauty within" is entirely built on of our attentiveness! Yes, indeed, wild and wise advice, Mary Oliver to find the beauty in the ordinary moments of our days.
Grace abounds,
John
Nature Meditation of the Month
I promised a new nature meditation each month. Here is a new 15 minute one that I created from during a recent visit to the Oregon Coast. In this nature meditation, you will hear the song of the White Crowned Sparrow. You can hear the sound of the ocean in the background. I am really loving this new nature meditation!
This meditation begins with a short introduction that I find helpful but it might not work for you. If so, you can skip forward 2 1/2 minutes to the nature sounds only.
I think you might also enjoy this wonderful testimony to the power of listening to birds that read today on the Center for Action and Contemplation daily meditation website:
"Many years ago, I needed serious surgery while working as an English teacher in China. I spent weeks recovering and I was alone except for one clergy member who left meals at my door. My mother, 87, called me each day from her retirement community. She always ended her call with one question: “Do you hear the birds?” At first, I softly laughed, and ignored her question. Finally, after one of our calls, I cracked the window open by my bed. And I was shocked to find—I could hear the birds singing brightly outside. I felt soothed and comforted by the sound. It even made me feel less alone. For those weeks of recovery, my mother and I ended our calls by affirming that we both heard the birds outside. Today, when my children are discouraged, I ask, “Do you hear the birds?” For our family, it has become a way of reminding ourselves that Nature’s healing presence is always just outside."
Donnalee B
Love this and totally agree. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
W.B. Yeats