Thinking Out Loud
Beautiful Moments

February 10, 2013
By: Diane Szczepanski

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself. ~ Henry Miller US author (1891 - 1980)

Every year the huge tree in my backyard has literally one, just ONE, what my minds eye considers 'perfect', day of winter snow gracing it?s branches. I wait for it every year. The day its winter barren branches are covered with icy snow that glitters in the golden sun.

If I'm fortunate enough, on that perfect day, it's a dazzling display of crystallized snowflake reflections that will be contrasted by a sky so blue as to be surreal and will create the crowning opportunity to gaze upon it's fleeting beauty.

I stood in awe of the white winter canvas in front of me this week, head bent back, eyes scanning upward, for what seemed like an eternity. Forgetting a hectic day, forgetting the rude sales clerk, forgetting the housework waiting for me inside. Forgetting "myself" as the quote above suggests.

The world IS rich.

There are so many "perfect moments" around us. In music, books, nature, our children, friends, family and even in the strangers around us. Do you look for them on a regular basis?

I do.

That moment when the sun fades into the lavender sky. The moving crescendo in a well composed song. The breathtaking imagery an accomplished author can conjure in my mind. The softness of my favorite, well worn slippers. The unexpected kind gesture of a stranger.

"Forget yourself."

Try to shake off ugliness of the depressing news, the rudeness of society, the rage of impatient drivers and the reality of life not always being perfect.

Find your moments of beauty and peace and a means to escape some of the harshness of our world. As Henry Miller said so well, "Develop interest in life as you see it". Those moments are out there for us all, just waiting to be appreciated.

You may only have one minute, or hour or like my maple tree, just one perfect day to drink in that which nourishes YOUR soul. But, to find those moments, are like finding a slice of heaven.