Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Practical TIP #05 – REMEMBERING THE BEAUTY AROUND YOU
Another great way to weaken and then release your tendency to judge some people as
“beautiful” and others as less so, is to pause for a few minutes many times each day and
really look around you. And I don’t mean just glance around – I mean to really deeply
LOOK; to deeply gaze at everything you see in those few moments as though you have
never seen it before; to deeply realize that this is actually the case – you truly never have
seen that woman before; you never have seen those clouds before; you never have really
seen that building before.
When we were infants, everything was literally overflowing with wonderment.
Everything was a miracle – everything was known to be Beautiful. And this was not
because we were impressionable or naïve or ignorant, but rather because our minds in
those days had not been clouded with preconceptions and fears and desires. There was no
comparison or contrast – no memories of things “similar”, and therefore nothing that
could be seen as “boring” or “familiar”. It was all exactly as it still is today: perfectly and
literally Beautiful!
Indeed, everything in our lives is constantly taking on a new form in every instant. Just
because our eyes and our brains cannot register these subtle shifts does not mean they
aren’t happening. And this Truth is as pertinent to the people we encounter as it is to the
trees we see or the concrete on which we walk. Even though she might appear to be the
same person, the good friend that you meet for coffee today is literally not the same good
friend you met with last week. A large portion of her material body has literally changed
in that period of time – she is literally a new person, a human being you have literally
never met before. And when you part ways at the end of your rendezvous, you will never
ever see that particular version of her ever again.
And it is this brilliant state of constant impermanence that makes everything we
encounter in every moment of every day of our lives completely original and wholeheartedly
unique. And if we can pause long enough to remember this, it ALL can
become Beauty-full for us once again.
“If I just let the day flow like a gentle
stream, around each bend appears blue
sky, views of forever … If I just let the
day, this day, be guided with goodness;
let Nature be my companion, a joyful
song arises …” ~ Evelyn Asher
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