No matter how many times I have tried to photograph a blue sky, I have never been able to capture the same image my eyes see.  Yesterday was an exceptionally beautiful day and offered one of those bluest blue days I have seen.  Rain and a cold front moved through in the two days previous which scrubbed the air to look crystal clean.  There were little whiffs of clouds scattered here and there in the sky, but nothing that was organized.  What I saw touched me.

In years now past I can remember looking at paintings in books, magazines and museums and thinking the artist did not portray the sky accurately.  He or she overstated the color and made it a much brighter color than reality ever shows.  I had that opinion of sunrises, sunsets and especially the blue of a clear sky.  There is something about the first half of life that causes many of us to sleep walk through our surroundings.  I suppose it is because we are so inward focused in those years that it prevents us from really seeing and noticing things as they truly are.  That was certainly the case with me.  The sky was always just there with its presence acknowledged by me but never really seen.

My recovery from a painful divorce a few years ago and working past my own stuff that was largely the cause brought me to a new way of being.  One of the activities that helped bring about the change in me is to at least once per day profoundly notice something and really see it.  At first it was a hit and miss endeavor, but after a couple of weeks it began to settle in as a new habit.  It was then that I was able to stop and look pointedly for a short while at a flower and see how wondrous it was  in color, texture and form.  I also began to really see people and was struck by how serious and unhappy most people appeared seemingly all wrapped up “inside them self”.  The exception is most young children who have an unbridled zest for life.  Even when pitching a fit they put themselves completely into the moment.  Now I can’t help but smile whenever I see a 2, 3 or 4 year old’s  marveling over something.

Early on in my awakening I discovered the marvel of a blue sky.  When I really stopped to “see” it, my amazing discovery was it was so blue it did not look real.  The first time I was stunned by a blue sky I realized if I was able to capture the sky as I saw it, most would think I doctored it in Photoshop.  Iwas a member of that “most” group most of my life.  Life is so much more interesting, amazing and touching when outward awareness is open, awake and alert.   

I challenge you to try my little habit that changed my perspective so soundly.  At least once each day look up from where you are and what you are doing and really see something.  Look for beauty, color and life in ordinary things rarely noticed.  Study what you see for 30 seconds or so and take memory snapshots of what you are looking at.   I’ll bet you will find what I did:  there are amazing things all around us all the time to be dazzled by and to be grateful for.  Really seeing  helps balance the difficulty and challenge of life and makes living taste so much sweeter.  If you don’t know how to get started just go watch some little kids playing or look up and really see a blue sky the next time you come upon one.   Once your eyes open wide enough to truly “see” you will never be the same again.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  G.K. Chesterton