Seeing Beauty: An Engaging Way to Live in the Moment and Feel More Alive

It wasn’t until I took a road trip one spring day in college that I began to understand the meaning of the word beauty. We were driving from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Goshen, Indiana to check out an Amish dry goods store. As we turned onto a two-lane country road, one of my friends asked us to describe the different shades of green we saw in the lush wooded areas and fields.

Up until that point in my life, ‘shades of green’ was a sweeping adjective I used to describe the color of vegetation in Midwest farmlands. On the other hand, it’s often difficult to distinguish one green color from another.

I grew up in Detroit. Cement and concrete saturated a lot of my world. Trees and parks were abundant but rarely noticed. I played in alleys and on tennis and basketball courts. I was a city kid. I did not possess an extensive vocabulary to describe the varied shades of nature.

We pulled over and hiked through the verdant landscape. The sun was soft and the clouds billowy. My friend pointed out the maple, oak, spruce, apple and pine trees that were swaying in a gentle breeze.

Suddenly, I began to see the rich tapestry of grasses, shrubs, and trees. Each possessed a unique silhouette. A riot of green colors shimmered in the rustling leaves—jade, teal, pear, basil, laurel, emerald, moss, pine, shamrock, and sage.

That’s when it dawned on me how often in life we look without seeing. We label objects but don’t see anything. Seeing is an awareness, a direct perception of all that is alive around us.

Seeing deeply into nature involves being present. It’s a spilling open to beauty. This beingness provides an opportunity to give ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. It’s an elevating experience that captures our imaginations and inspires transcendence.

Our lives transform in moments; we just have to look for them.