How much of everyday life do we blissfully past through without really looking at our surroundings?   There is so much beauty to be seen and appreciated but our brains are going too fast and we are thinking about twelve things at once.  Perhaps that is why mediation is a good thing as it can train us to slow down and enjoy each moment or surrounding.

A friend recently stayed at my home and photographed some images of details in the house that speak volumes about slowing down and seeing our surroundings.

I have walked past by these lovely scenes a thousand times and never seen them as she captured them.  They took my breathe away and made me realize that I need to take time to “see” my life and its beauty.   How many times have a walked by the statuary at the end of the terrace?  How many times have I looked at the mirror in the dining room and not seen the painting reflected back at me?

Here is an exercise we did in my Drawing and Painting class:  Without using a mirror, sketch yourself, your face, your features.  Now, this is your face and you see it in the mirror or in a reflection or in the car mirror every day.  I found this exercise really difficult because I could only think of the flaws in my face. I just couldn’t get the whole picture of my face.  Try it and you’ll see how narrowly we see what we are looking at. 

The point here seems to be that we should slow down and really look at the beauty of our surroundings and ourselves.  Seeing our flaws rather than our beauty is a human condition. Look at celebs who try to create perfection only to have to continue to chase it through more and more surgeries.

Maybe the exercise is to take our phone camera and take pictures of ordinary objects or favorite treasures in our daily lives and then see a unique composite of who we are.

Lucy noted that a recent Sunday Times article did a feature that put together a collage of a celebrity’s favorite treasures including a special childhood doll, a camera, and a vase from Paris.  

We invite our readers to take time to look around their homes and photograph images that speak to them.  And then to photograph themselves and try to draw what they see.  You might even find that you are slowing down and taking time to relish the beauty of your surroundings. 

Let us know what you think.  Send us some of the images.

Ciao

Lucy and Claudia