Beauty is valuable
When asked why he devoted a portion of his garden to flowers instead of useful vegetables The Bishop in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables said, “…The beautiful is just as useful as the useful.” After a pause, he added, “More so, perhaps.”
Beauty is dynamic
A good painting is made up of light and dark strokes. The contrast is what expresses the shapes and movement of the piece. Without the light, the work is drab, but if there is no darkness, the canvas is flat and emotionless.
Beauty is attainable
You life is your canvas. You have the opportunity to make a beautiful masterpiece, and in so doing, bring beauty to other peoples’ lives.
{my process and my poem}
I wrote a few hundred words — a mixture of random phrases and possible poetry — reflecting on the idea of the dark and light strokes of life working together to create beauty. Then I lifted a few phrases from that rough draft and built a poem around them.
A painting consists
of light and dark strokes;
beauty enhanced by contrast.
A life is filled
with light and dark moments;
beauty is there for those who would see it.
Who do you most admire
and why?
He or she likely
faced adversity
and triumphed over it.
He didn’t have a life filled with light,
and she didn’t never face darkness,
but it is the overcoming
that inspires
admiration.
When faced
with dark circumstances…
They looked
at the shadow
and recognized it as a sign
that there was a source of light somewhere, so
rather than choose to become accustomed
to surrounding darkness,
they turned
toward light.
{today’s exercise}
Your life is your masterpiece. How will you choose to make it beautiful?