Beauty everywhere

Spring finally made it's glorious appearance.  During spring, it's easy to see so much beauty! Whether you look up

or down

whether fancy

or more wild

Beauty is everywhere!

I love Dr. Tae Yun Kim's words on what constitutes beauty:

"Beauty, just like love, harmony, peace and unity, is infinite.  That is, beauty can manifest in an infinite number of ways, and have an infinite number of forms.  
Right now, where you sit, look around and see in how many places and in how many ways the idea of beauty is manifested.  The forms of beauty will disappear some time, but the idea of beauty will never pass away."  (The Silent Master, page 60)

No matter where you are, whether in a field or in a city - let's find beauty and treasure it!

About readiness

As I walked outside in the orchard today, I was so excited to see all these blossoms, ready to burst out.  I am always very happy to see the first hint of color, and the first of the buds burst open.
Today, I saw that not all the buds are ready at the same time.  Depending on the kind of tree, and the position of the tree, and the soil, each of them is at a different stage of readiness.

This reminded me of what Dr. Tae Yun Kim says about readiness, and might I add that nature has it figured out perfectly!  You'll see why when you read the following, taken from Dr. Kim's book "The Silent Master" on page 30:

"The first step to take in the readiness stage of self discovery is to take charge of your thinking.  Every response you make to your environment, and every action you take or don't take is propelled by a decision, choice, or response that you make in your thinking.  And the most important aspects of your thinking to take charge of are will, motivation and attitude."

Nature takes charge in subtle ways.  The buds here never argue or decide they don't want to open up and flower.  But they do respond to their environment and if it's too cold to open up, they won't!

So let's be like these beautiful buds and take charge of our lives, and respond to our environment in positive ways!

There is beauty everywhere if we only open our eyes to it

It is such an exciting time of year!  From torrential rainfall, to being snowed in, to discovering opening buds in the sunshine, we are getting it all.  

And whatever nature has to offer at any given moment - it's all beautiful.  Even a frozen raindrop can be source of great beauty and joy.  

I love what Dr. Tae Yun Kim has to say about such things.  As you know, she grew up in horrible circumstances, not only poor but also very much abused.  All she had was nature and the choice to appreciate rather than be depressed.  But you can read about that here.  

Here are her words which can always apply in your life one way or another.  

"Appreciation and gratitude are ways of acknowledging that something is present and real  When you acknowledge and appreciate beauty, you are making it real in your world.  And making beauty real in your world is another way of taking charge of your life.  Because you can see beauty everywhere, let this perception set you free from being a victim of self-imposed ugliness, gloom and depression."

(The Silent Master, page 154)

So let us celebrate every living breath as if it was our last breath!