Something Beautiful to Look At
Last spring I planted flowers in the pots in my backyard. Nothing extravagant. There were Bougainvillea, Chrysanthemums, and some filler plants that I don’t know the names of and that I hoped would live through the heat, the shade, the bugs and the squirrels that always want to hide their peanuts in those planters.
Every time I walked past my back door, I saw the flowers in their pots and felt a rush of happiness. It was like looking at the beautiful flowers gave me a boost of positive energy.
I noticed this feeling again when I had wrapped Christmas presents for my family and set them under my little fake tree on a cabinet. Every time I walked past the cabinet I thought the presents looked so pretty sitting there, and I felt more cheerful. I’m no expert with wrapping paper, and don’t go wild with Christmas decorations. In fact I didn’t put a single ornament on that tree, but the presents made it pretty enough.
It made me think about how useful it is to have something beautiful to look at throughout the day. It adds a little spark of happiness that stays with me and brightens my day.
It also made me wonder why I don’t get the same boost of happiness when I look at the things that are more permanently in my house – paintings, the cheerful yellow bedspread that took me months to pick out, or my grandmother’s chandelier. Well, the chandelier makes me feel good because it reminds me of my grandmother and her unique taste. Turquoise blue painted over brass! But that is a different kind of beautiful that comes from family love.
I realize that part of the joy of looking at something beautiful is its temporary nature. The flowers die and nothing much grows in the backyard until it is warm again in spring. I enjoyed looking at the wrapped presents because a few days later my family unwrapped my handiwork. I asked them to “sufficiently admire the packages before opening them!”
The flowers and wrapped packages don’t last long enough for me to get used to them like I do with my paintings and bedspread.
So now that I am without flowers on the deck, and have no pretty presents to look at, I am making an extra effort to notice any pretty thing that I see while I’m out for a walk, or in a store, or if I catch a glimpse of a bluebird that sometimes rests on a branch outside my office window.
Little beautiful things to look at to brighten my day.
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