Beauty is Here.

People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves." Salma Hayek

I saw a beautiful sunrise. Witnessed its rosy hues streaking across the eastern sky. Breathed in its golden aura.

Beauty breathed with me.

I saw a man. Weathered and worn, he walked the street, feet shuffling, one leg dragging. Hands buried deep into the pockets of his dirty green jacket, head down, eyes buried behind a long grey beard. He saw the same sunrise. Stopped. And breathed in its golden aura.

Beauty slipped past me as he walked on by. 

I saw a child. Laughing. Tugging at his father's jacket hem. The father leaned down. Picked up his laughing child and tossed him in the air. Father and son stood captured in the moment.

Beauty unfolded in a moment of grace.

I saw a woman. Homeless. Living at a shelter. She folded laundry. Carefully lining seam to seam of a pair of jeans. She folded them in half, hem to waist band. Slowly, she placed them on top of a pile of folded laundry. Arranged the symmetry of the pile. She ran her hand gently along the fabric. Stopped and rested, one hand atop the pile of laundry. There was beauty in the simple task.

Beauty lives freely in everyday chores.

I saw a young man walking down the street. He stopped and picked up litter. Dropped it into a bin. The street was clean again.

Beauty flourishes in our attention.

I feel beauty stirring in the small spaces, the wide open places, the straight and the winding road. I feel beauty all around and journey deep within to touch its core resting deep inside me.

I know beauty is here. Right now. I breathe. Deeply.

Beauty is everywhere. You are beauty. I am beauty. We are beautiful.