Ode to beauty

Dear Journal,

How beautiful this world is! Every day is a new spectacle for those willing to see. Sometimes, caught in the whirlwind of life, I forget to look up, to rest my gaze on what is around me and see how hard the present moment strives to bring harmony. Seeing the beauty in everyone and everything: there is a challenge… And yet, with true listening and compassion, every being ends up revealing its light to us, I am convinced of it.

What I love most in these winter landscapes is watching the trees stripped of their green coats, seeing their branches tell their story, their growth, their past; how they managed to find their balance over time. Watching this silent nature, half asleep and yet full of life; the birds seeking the best places in the sun, the squirrels leaping from branch to branch. Winter gives us the chance to contemplate this life.

Just as for us, this season invites introspection. Looking within and seeing how, over time and over the years gone by, we have found balance, despite life’s events, despite the cracks, despite the wounds. It also lets us note, with kindness and clarity, the path still ahead, and see which fault lines are still painful. All of this is profoundly rich, because it is what makes us unique.

In the postscript of his life, Victor Hugo offers us a divine reminder: “No outward grace is complete unless inner beauty brings it to life. The beauty of the soul spreads like a mysterious light over the beauty of the body.” And this splendour, my dear journal, is beyond anything humans can imagine. The delicacy of a gaze resting kindly, the softness of a welcoming heart and the finesse of a conscious presence: that, for me, is the true beauty of humankind. And it is by facing this beauty that we offer others the chance to reveal their light.

✦