Beauty

It's always startling to realize that you are in a funk. Inward searching, outward procrastination, longing, helplessness and a hardy lack of motivation.

I just visited that place for the last couple of months. Times of transition usually impart such dubious adjectives that we live out in verb. But, this week I felt like I walked through another door, turned a new chapter and turned toward a new perspective.

It happened when I found myself smiling at a sparkly, colorful, unique and glamorous work of art by Dale Chihuly. He is a world famous creator of glass-blown art featuring creatures from the sea. When I look at Chihuly's work, I'm blown away (no pun intended) at how inspired he is. And when I look at a real sea creature, like the jellyfish in this picture, I still think of Chihuly. He has been able to fuse his work so tightly together with reality, that his fans can't help but think of his work when we see the real thing.

This kind of beauty is a surprising remedy to what ails many of us going through transitions, getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas and just generally hunckered down in the funk. Noticing the unexpected in life means getting out there, like I did when I found myself in front of that piece of art. Life is beauty...in a falling leaf, a glimmering bauble, the smell of apple cider, a transformed life...

So if the rigors of life have been pushing you down, rise up and turn your head, notice something else, something beautiful.