The 2011 Mantra

Some people do New Year's resolutions; my Dad has a yearly mantra. Here are some of his thoughts-

'The 2011 mantra is:

'Take time to recognize and appreciate beauty.'

The seed for this thought goes way back, probably 15 years or more, to a message at church on “10 things that Christians ought to be characterized by” or something like that. One of his points was that we should be looking for and appreciating beauty.

This year’s thought has various components, such as “take time” – which means that I should not just focus on the project at hand, but, when appropriate, I should “stop and smell the roses.” As Mom has heard before, “push the pause button”.

It also means that I should make it a point to recognize beauty in every place, no matter what I am doing. It may be an elegant design of a product, or a well-written paragraph in business correspondence or in a book I am reading, or something that someone says or does, or a beautiful work of art. It may be a sunrise, or a sunset, or a mountain range, or a desert. I should stop and take time to appreciate the beauty – not just say, “that’s nice” and move on quickly.

It is also my desire that if I can focus on and appreciate the beautiful, I will be less critical and judgmental. This is a link to the 2010 thought, “Live positively.”

This year’s thought may mostly have moment-by-moment applications, but this can also be planned, such as a trip to an art museum, or a vacation to the mountains, etc."

So here's to looking for the beautiful things in 2011!