Take Time to Stop and Take in the Beauty Around You
Fall on the AT
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. ~ Dale Carnegie
We are all busy people, we have jobs and families. We have responsibilities and commitments. The last week and a half at work have been especially stressful. I was out of the office for the most part for four weeks so the work has piled up and the deadlines, well the deadlines are best addressed by a better writer than me, Douglas Adams.
It’s been a hard time for another reason as well, one that I was only aware of apparently on a subconscious level until my sister reminded me today. It’s been two years since my granny past. She was an incredibly important person to me and I miss her dearly. I wrote about her before in a piece called, Happiness is Granny, and here’s a picture of her from a couple of years ago.
My granny looking cool
Add to the mix people acting especially stupidly lately, things not going the way I’d like. I’ve also been very quietly dealing with what I can only describe as some personal emotional devastation lately. I’ve worked through most of it, in the next week it comes to ahead for me. All of this has amped up my stress levels pretty significantly. However, Thanksgiving is coming and it is by far my favorite holiday and I’ve got a nine-day Christmas break coming as well. So things will get better my friends.
In the middle of all of this the other day I walked out of my office in a pretty high level of frustration and looked out at the mountains west of campus.
The view from outside my office
I was instantly reminded of my favorite teacher in high school, Mr. Sullivan, the first person to truly teach me the lesson that we have to appreciate the beauty all around us. You see our classroom faced the Catskill Mountains and there were many beautiful views like the one above. He would on those days suddenly stop class, turn to us, command us in his best Shakespearean voice, “to the windows children, to the windows, look at the beauty, look at the beauty.” He was a magnificent human and an even better teacher.
As a traveler an adventurer and a photographer I often put myself in magnificent places where there is beauty all around. It’s how I get great photos, it’s not much talent, just me being smart enough to put myself in really great places like the Himalayas, Ireland, Havasupai Falls or even Burning Man. You can see over 1200 of my images on my Instagram account @ReverendMichaelKane.
One of my favorite photos from Burning Man this year
It’s easy to stop and appreciate the beauty when you’re at an event with thousands of pieces of art, or in the highest mountains on earth. The real trick, the truly important trick, is to remember to do this in everyday life.
A picture I stopped and took while driving between meetings this spring
We have to look at beauty everyday. While we’re in the middle of driving kids to soccer practice, when we’re walking to our cars from our office or taking out the garbage. Those are the moments it’s truly important to stop and drink in the beauty that is all around us. Doing this will bring you happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane
The Ministry of Happiness 