By ALICIA WOODWARD, guest columnist
Most of us have had the opportunity to visit a place of magnificent beauty. Maybe you stood in awe at the edge of the Grand Canyon, watched dolphins frolic in ocean waves, hiked to a waterfall on a snowcapped mountain, or gazed at the northern lights.
Those experiences become etched in our memory and remind us of the grandeur of our world, but natural beauty can be seen everywhere, if we just open our eyes.
The wise and wonderful Maya Angelou wrote, “Open your eyes to the beauty around you. Open your mind to the wonders of life.”
I recently ran into the grocery store in a cold, driving rain. I struggled to control my umbrella as the wind blew it inside out. Sloshing and shivering through the aisles, the shoppers’ expressions looked as dark and tired as their winter coats.
When I left the store, I was stunned to see the sky awash in a surreal post-storm glow, and a full rainbow stretch over rows and rows of dirty cars. The parking lot was filled with people who stopped their carts and smiled heavenward.
The other day, a surprise gift from nature brought comfort and joy to my mom and me. After 24 hours in the emergency room, she was taken by ambulance to a hospital an hour away.
I followed in my car, accompanied by an immense orange sun that transformed the cold, clear sky into an entertaining show of color until dramatically sinking into a frozen cornfield. When I met my mom in her hospital room she quietly said, “Did you see the sunset? I watched it all the way here through the ambulance window.”
In a time of distress, my mother chose to open her eyes to the beauty around her.
There are natural wonders of the world that you and I may never see. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Africa’s Victoria Falls, and the Himalayas’ Mount Everest will probably never become entries in my travel journal, but there are still amazing everyday sights to be seen.
In her book, “Open Your Eyes,” Alexandra Stoddard wrote, “I’ve found most people go through life half blind. Few really know how to see and as a result are unaware of the majesty and beauty around them. But seeing can be learned, and to those who learn to see well, the world becomes an entirely different place.”
As we make our way through our days, we can look for natural wonders wherever we may find ourselves. Daisies pushing through cracks in the sidewalk, chickadees singing from the porch railing, clouds in the shape of a heart, and parking lot rainbows seem to show up when most needed to bring happiness, encouragement and promise to anyone who opens their eyes.
Alicia Woodward and her husband are empty-nesters who live on Sweetwater Lake in Brown County. She taught middle school literature and language arts for more than 25 years and writes a weekly blog, The Simple Swan, inspired by the wisdom, beauty and simplicity of nature. Subscribe at thesimpleswan.com. She can be reached at [email protected].
