Make it a game to find beauty in the ordinary.

Beauty is all around us, and if we are intentionally looking for it, it will be found.

It’s like wearing rose colored glasses that are programmed to see beauty in the mundane.

Admiring all the lines and swirls that make up my fingerprints.

Watching raindrops dance in a puddle, noticing the speed, the grace, and the concentric circles they make.

Looking for faces in everyday objects, like the drunk octopus garment hook commonly found on bathroom stall doors.

There is beauty everywhere.

Anything can be beautiful.

I think something happens when we train our brains to notice beauty. First, we’re more likely to find it. Second, we develop admiration and gratitude for the thing we are interacting with. A rain puddle goes from being an annoyance to be avoided whilst trying to stay dry, to becoming an improvisational water ballet to be witnessed. Instead of being filled with annoyance, you’re filled with wonder. Personally, I would MUCH rather be contemplating wonder and not annoyance.

Kids are naturals at seeing beauty. They put glue on their fingers so they can peel it off and be fascinated with the patterns of their fingertips. They can use any object they find as a puppet, creating a make believe family. I’m not saying you should go out and make your own stick family or pet rock, and please don’t put glue on your fingers. There are much easier ways to admire your fingertips. Buy an ink pad, or if that’s too messy, press your fingertips into some silly putty.

If it’s been a while since your finger gluing days and you need a little practice, go grab a wooden spoon or spatula. Take a moment to really look at it. Can you see the wood grain? Are the lines close together, creating a tight pattern, or are there gaps between the long lines? What happens to the lines where the handle stops and the wood slopes down into the bowl of the spoon?

I’m looking at a small wooden spatula that came with a backpack cooking kit. The lines on the top of the spatula are very tight. The lines stop in points where the wood slopes down into the spatula part of the utensil. They kind of look like pencil tip polka dots until the wood becomes flat again, and the long lines reappear. The curves on the sides of the spatula resemble leopard spots. The whole utensil is beautiful to me.

Make it a goal to notice at least three beautiful aspects about ordinary objects every day.

Notice how it changes your perception of the object, as well as your perception of your day.

It won’t take long before you realize just how beautiful our world is.

It is breathtakingly beautiful.