The Power of Beauty

I firmly believe that there is an almost-infinite power in beauty. Though we all might not measure it the same way, we are all touched equally by it. Each of us, if asked, could name things that are beautiful to us. Though our individual lists might differ a bit, what we find to be beautiful affects us in the same way and it has the power to change the way we look at life. In most of my writings, I add the line: “surround yourself with beauty” because I believe in the power it installs in us.

In this tumultuous time, the trails of wild areas remain open to us. Though sanctioned programs have largely been curtailed and are likely not to open soon, we can still walk the trails and soak in the restorative power that nature provides. We need to surround ourselves with beauty now more than ever. Though the temperatures have been brutal over the past few weeks, many trails are shaded or partly so. I encourage you to take a walk in the early morning or late afternoon. Bring a pair of binoculars and a camera. There is so much to see if you look for it and there is peace regardless of whether you are looking or not.

We also surround ourselves with beauty if we take the time to create it around our homes. We connect ourselves to wild places by creating living landscapes where we live and work. Nature shouldn’t stop at preserve boundaries; it needs to continue on into our created landscapes.  We accomplish this through our plant choices. Plants create aesthetics and putting beauty, no matter how we see it, around us can only bring us a sense of peace, but plants are more than aesthetic creatures. They form the foundation that supports life as a whole. Plants that feed bees, butterflies, songbirds and the like provide another layer to the aesthetics a landscape can provide and it is this layer that brings me the greatest joy. With this virus affecting nearly every aspect of my life, it is the time I spend in my yard gardening and wildlife watching that creates a sense of well being that I find I need now more than ever. 

Since October 2018, I have been working to create a living landscape out of the formerly dead one that I inherited with this home. Where once I was forced to hand-pollinate my key lime simply to get fruit, I now have more than a dozen native bees to do those kinds of things for me. I also have at least a dozen species of butterflies acting out their life cycles in my yard. Birds, beyond the common and boat-tailed grackles I've always had here are regular visitors and the offspring they bring by demonstrates the power of landscape. To me, this is beauty. I find nothing more powerful than the simple beauty of life and I feel sorry for my neighbors that can't see this. Since they seem to spend all of their time indoors anyway, they are immune from the power beauty instills.

When we surround ourselves with beauty – both plants and wildlife, it is difficult to dwell on the negative things that try to leak into our lives. There is ample ugliness that we could focus on no doubt, but that only serves to make us impotent. Beauty gives us strength and an optimism that cannot be created otherwise. In these days ahead, as we sort out what all of this means to a re-imagined world that is sure to emerge, take the time to surround yourself with beauty both by excursions into the natural world and in the landscapes that surround your homes.  Keep it close-by.