After the whole "waking up with a song in my head" thing going on, I found myself strangely attuned to everything around me. It was a very odd morning whilst I rode the bus to work and back. I was greeted by the faces of many people; happy, sad, worried, stressed (many about shopping, you could see the lists floating around in their heads...) and I was struck by how wonderfully beautiful people are. I'm a people watcher by nature, but yesterday I was awe'd at all the beauty I saw around me. It's more an intrinsic/inner beauty that I was sensing and observing. We all look at things in a way that determines what we find aesthetically pleasing and it's different for everyone. There are social generalities that we can make; people that take the time to look nice, wear nice clothes and present themselves in a favorable fashion are generally considered more beautiful than the guy that just slept in a dumpster, has spaghetti stuck to his face and holes in his clothes. The beauty I was observing was much deeper than just the shell we wear. Regardless of a persons' aesthetic beauty, their inner beauty is there shining out like a beacon for anyone to see. It's difficult to see in some people, as it clouded by things like anger, self loathing and sometimes fear... but if you look hard enough it's still there. I watched people as they got on and off the bus, or stood along the streets, or sat in their cars at stop lights and I absorbed some of this beauty. The wonder of observing the uniqueness of individuals and trying to figure out what it was I was feeling, gave me an unbelievable sense of completeness and inclusion in everything around me. At the same time, I felt like I was sitting there on my own, that no one else could see what I was sensing.
Things I saw in faces that seemed really beautiful listed in no way, shape or from: the old man struggling to carry his bag and the sense of relief he displayed at not having to walk any further; the complacent look on the bag lady's face as she asked for change for a coffee; the look of fear on the pretty woman's face as she answered her cel phone; the anger evident among people in the car that was stuck behind a oil truck filling someone's home oil tank; the joy on the face of the young mother as she told her child about where the bus was taking them; the sadness and bruised sensations emanating from the woman with the overcoat and nice shoes; the contemptible look the young man gave the old bum as he opened the bus window to dissipate the foul odor; the weariness of the two teenage girls pushing their baby carriages; the cockiness of the young man with the black leather coat as he scanned the bus for a seat; the pain on the face of the old woman as she hobbled to the front of the bus; the consternation of the girl trying to get her wheelchair through the snow at the end of the crosswalk; the joy on the face of the girl at the bus stop when she noticed her friend walking up the street towards her; the frustration of the man hopping off the bus as his connecting bus pulled away without him;
We see the beauty of the natural world around us all the time. It's too bad we often miss out on the beauty of who and what we are.
