How to See Beauty in
Every Small Thing around You

By Benedict Brychta

There is this talk of the bigger picture that pervades life at most levels, where people are encouraged to focus on the bigger things in life and focus beyond the moment they are living in. It is all well and good, except it is not the key to everything. Sure, it is important to be in touch with the bigger scheme of things so that you do not live a life without a purpose. But then again the future is not promised and for the most part, that big picture is in the future. So how about today? What if all you had of your life was what you have lived, would you be happy with it?

Why do you need to see beauty in the small things?

The need to be the best and the pragmatism that is drilled into the minds of human beings since a young age have turned life into a ceaseless rat race. It is mostly all about getting to one goal and as soon as you achieve it you move the goal post to another place and you go after it. But life, really, is not a race. It is not a destination, but rather a journey and, like a road trip, its best moments are in the experience during the journey and not the end. This means that to live fully you have to learn to appreciate every moment you are alive and to savor every experience. After all, someone observed that the best things in life are not things but dear moments that leave give your life happiness and meaning, which ultimately result in progressive personal development.

That said, the least that any living person deserves is to live a full life in which they enjoy every waking moment. They deserve to find satisfaction and happiness despite the disposition they are at. That way, all people have an equal chance at living full and meaningful lives. As Mother Theresa once said, you should all “be faithful in the small things, because it is in them that your strength lies.”

Appreciating the beauty of the small things

So how do you position yourself to see the beauty of all moments in life? Here are some pointers...

1. Slow Down
You have definitely traveled in a car at some point in your life, yes? Good. Have you, by any chance, come across a beautiful scene or object on such a journey? If you have, you know that it is nearly impossible to catch a proper glimpse of it at, say, highway speeds. Another example is when you are cruising on the highway and a magnificent, rare car whizzes past you at a high speed. You cannot claim to enjoy the view of such a car, because speed. So clearly, either you need to slow down, or better yet, stop for a while to enjoy a beautiful site. That is the same case with life, you must teach yourself to get off the fast moving train of ambition and goals to enjoy where you are and what you have. After all, no one promised you.

2. Celebrate small victories
Face it, what matters the most for most people is money and that is reflected in the craze of getting the next, bigger job; the corner office. Most people believe that having money can bring happiness. Consequently, their lives’ happiness is anchored on attaining those very lofty career goals. It is all good, but how often do you get a promotion or a new job? Are you sure that is the same frequency you want to have the joy of celebration at? Probably not. So the solution is to appreciate that life is a progressive process and on each day you make a step forward. To enjoy such little steps, you must accord the appropriate value to them so that you celebrate them accordingly. This way, you have plenty of beautiful celebration-worth process than if you wait for the big wins that are few and far apart.

3. Build relationships
Apart from work, or even more than work, spending time with people that one values is the other big source of happiness. This means that the more people that you have dear to you, the happier your moments are likely to be. But closeness between people does not come easy. You must cultivate relationships, which is quite a task, but which is worth every bit of the effort. Go home to your spouse earlier, call your mother, go on a date with your date and you will be sure to find so much beauty in the mundane things in life.

4. Compose a gratitude list
Sometimes, especially when things are not going your way, it is easy to despair and lose sight of the beauty in all the things going on around you. That is the result of not appreciating all that is working for you. It is easy to take the things that are working out for you for granted since it may seem normal. Therefore, when you get to such low moments, you must actively seek to appreciate the positive things that you have going. How do you do this? You can start by creating a gratitude where you list all the things that you are thankful for each day. In doing this you realize that there are so many ways in which your life could be worse but it is not and therefore you enjoy each passing moment more. It might help to have an external perspective at this stage where you can gain inspiration from people that have overcome self-pity and defeatist thoughts to gain inner peace. Testimonials on Trans4mind are a great point to gain such insights from people that have now attained inner peace.