The Beauty of Paying Attention
I recently spent some time with my little grandson, Austin. I was struck by his incredible awareness. He’s only 18 months old, but he notices everything.
If someone coughs—even if we’re in a large group and they’re twenty-five feet away in the opposite direction—you’ll immediately hear a tiny little fake cough coming from his perch in the stroller.
If there’s an airplane high overhead that I never even noticed, he does. He points to the sky with a huge smile and a bit of wonder sparkling in his eyes. The same is true with birds, although to him every bird is simply a “duck.”
“Duck… duck… duck…”
He sees everything, and it all goes into that little mind. He doesn’t seem to miss a single detail. I find that wonderfully refreshing. His detailed observation of the world reminds me how much there is to see when we’re truly paying attention.
It made me realize that’s exactly how I see the world. Photography just gives me a way to share it.
I find the tiny details and bring them to the forefront—the things people often walk right past. A cluster of wildflowers beside an industrial park. A lone tree standing between downtown buildings. A hummingbird feeding from lavender in a parking lot. Or, in this case, a handful of swallowtail butterflies visiting the flowers in my own front yard over the course of a few summer days.
I’ve made it a habit to seek beauty in the ordinary. And I’ve discovered it’s found everywhere. I’ve discovered the best way to get out of a negative mood or stressful mental state for me is to go find something beautiful.
Nature has an incredible way of weaving beauty into even the most unexpected places. Sometimes we simply have to look a little closer.
Occasionally we have to crop out the road, the garbage in the gutter, or the weathered side of a building. But doing so doesn’t create beauty—it simply removes the distractions that kept us from seeing the beauty that was already there.
Perhaps that’s true of more than just photography.
How that thought connects to these photographs of swallowtails in my front yard…I’ll leave to your imagination.
Today, I simply invite you to find something beautiful in your own world.
Pause.
Really look.
And if only for a moment, allow that beauty to transport you to a place of peace… joy… contentment… abundance… or simply a deep appreciation for THIS moment.
