Beautifully!

April 1st, 2013

(Do it Beautifully!)

This morning I watched our dog, Jasper, run around the yard and I thought to myself that he runs beautifully. The thought struck me that we refer to certain people as being beautiful but how about what people DO? We can watch a person dance or cook or paint and say to ourselves that they are doing it beautifully but what about the man that pushes the shopping carts in the parking lot? He’s done it a thousand times and he knows how many carts act this way or that. Or how about the nurse that switches the IV bag without waking the patient.

There are actions being done beautifully all around us all the time. We are even contributing some of that beautifulness ourselves. Things being done beautifully aren’t just those practiced actions being done on stage and in classes and on film. Everyday actions are being done beautifully everywhere.

We don’t see the beautiful because we are not looking for what’s right, what’s working, what doesn’t need fixing. We have been raised as problem solvers and we get rewarded for solving problems and so we are always looking for problems to fix. If someone is doing something beautifully and right, we pass right over it to find the person who is doing it wrong so that we can present our solution and be rewarded with a pat on the back or a knowing smile.

Today, watch people uncritically, without judgement. Watch the way they walk or work or maybe the way they bag your groceries or the way they drive. Some of these things are being done beautifully. Much more than you have imagined.

(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com