Pausing to see
A moment in timeetched with frost,a masterpiecein disguise. Beauty…or fallen leavesI walk pastevery day.
Beauty
The gift of perspective
Seeing the sunrise as it gathers speed coming down the western side of the valley is a gift in perspective. There is nothing I can do to affect its trajectory or its stunning beauty. And each morning, it reminds me that I am part of something bigger than myself. What shapes your perspective?
Seeing a different kind of beauty
This isn’t the time of year we would typically call beautiful. In its exposed starkness, everything has a sense of hunger and brittleness. The alpacas are grumpy, and I hear more alarm cries amongst the birds. While yesterday the geese were surprised by the ‘hardness’ of the lake when they tried to land. Often our … Read more
The inner history of a day
Yesterday as the outer world tumbled in turmoil, I worked on The Art of Quiet Disruption. Therefore, searching for a different voice to carry into today seemed appropriate. A voice that speaks across time with dignity and beauty that we need to settle our souls just now. So I picked up John O’Donohue’s blessing from … Read more
Ripples of light in the rhythm of time
The colours caught my eye as I walked through the gate at lake level. So I looked up, expecting to see the source of the reflection in the sky. No rainbow. How could there be, with no cloud or rain falling? Yet here it was on the lake’s surface, shifting location as I walked by. … Read more
Hidden in what the heart reveals
Just walking bya leafin early autumnsunlight,more gloriousthan acrown. Extravagantbeauty inplain sight,patientlywaitingto benoticed Who are we,and whatare we bearinghiddenbeneaththe layersof love?
On the gentle emergence of beauty
Beauty is not in a hurry. It doesn’t shout before it is ready, until it is formed in the secret place. Then it emerges, responding to light and love, and sings its transcendent song. ‘What is real is almost always, to begin with, hidden, and does not want to be understood by the part of … Read more
Softening our lenses with beauty
We often think about beauty with a hard, convergent lens. Homing in on the details and noticing the imperfections. Oh dear, what’s happened here? Yet this is such a narrow, shallow perspective, focussing only on the past or the future. On how things used to be, or what we might create ‘if only’. However, beauty … Read more
Choosing a life of beauty
Beauty as a human calling: “Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness, like. Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. So I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of … Read more
Gifting ourselves love
‘You’ is one of my favourite Gideon Heugh poems. It reminds me that I am more than enough. Even in the face of heartbreak, failure or defeat, yes, even there, we are enough. And if this is true – which I fundamentally believe – then we don’t need to adopt a character to play our … Read more