Surrender To Beauty

        Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
                                                      --Rumi, poet

 

Morning meditation garden

Surrender      
     Every morning I get up, make a coffee, sit down, switch on my electric candle (symbolic, handy, economically sensible and besides I'm Aquarius rising), then deliberately surrender to beauty. Eyes right, a view beyond the small, lace curtained window appears and behold!     Chunky textures and shapes, a pink stone wall, cascading English ivy with deep green leafy variations, an endless expanse of golden sunrise.  Hello out there, you big old beautiful day!

Blue Wind, Tony Abeyta (tonyabeyta.com)

         Sun, lace, rocks, sky, plants? Oh please, I hear you say, this is nothing to get worked up about. No, no I insist, on the contrary, it's everything to get worked up about.  It is in this present moment that I am spoken to about beauty. I am breathing, I am safe, I am grateful and I am blessed. I know how to move into this optimistic and welcoming inner space because I've worked for it. Blood, sweat and tears kind of work (that, of course, is a whole other story and I've written about it elsewhere). Now, it's made easy for me, and I choose these words carefully and use the passive voice for a reason. I no longer try to force anything, an awareness and awakedness that comes in its own way, its own time. My part is to follow the blue winds, listen to the Saguaro cacti, speak to the gnarly old junipers, salute the soul stirring sunsets, marvel at the charming hummingbirds, and honor the magnetic red rocks turned into enchanted cairns living along well used hiking trails.

Hozho      

Surrender, Larry Yazzi

        Here in Arizona, I've become familiar with Hozho, a Navajo Beauty Way concept that means harmony, peace of mind, goodness, ideal family relationships, beauty in arts and crafts, and health of body and spirit. I am reminded of this when I see works like Navajo (Dine') sculptor Larry Yazzie's Surrender. He begins each new piece without knowing what it will turn out to be. He says the stone decides itself what it will be as the piece develops and that he feels like if you ever get to the place where you know what you're going to do then it's "just a job." turqtortsedona.com/Artists/yazzie_larry/index.htm

John Loring

         Maybe Hozho isn't everyone's idea of walking in beauty, but for those who understand the lure of nature and especially the charms of the desert, the mystery, harmony and call of the wild is magnetic and irresistible. Like John Loring, design director emeritus for New York City's world renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co. (www.tiffany.com) who grew up on a ranch in Cave Creek, Arizona. http://sagedillon.wordpress.com/writing-samples/silver-tea/) Now retired and in his seventies, he's said much of the inspiration for his design sensibilities came from the shapes, textures, smells, sounds and tastes of nature he'd experienced during his boyhood years. The above link is an interesting read about Loring's life.

Tiffany Flora & Fauna, edited by John Loring

Focus
            This focus on beauty takes patience and fortunately most of us past 50 have developed some by now. Courage too. I have the deepest admiration for people who fiercely and wholeheartedly devote their lives to the embrace and creation of beauty. The longer I live, the more I hunger for that because life is awash, just drowning in possibilities for walking the Beauty Way, for the sacred experience of Hozho, however you may find it or define it. I see not only the visual as a part of Beauty Way but also the intangible and spiritual: the wish for someone's well being, a sense of gratitude for comfort and safety, gladness for reconnecting with old friends, letting go of an old, tired, ugly thought. Purposely focusing on the present moment as a singular beauty in itself is a way to honor it for what it is now and for what it might become. Just as Larry Yazzi begins work on each new piece not knowing what it will turn out to be, so do I begin each day open to what it may become. I let the day itself decide  for me. My part is to wake up, pay attention and surrender to beauty. Life isn't a job, it's a work of art.

Your Hozho

1)    Describe a moment when you encountered something in nature so beautiful that it brought you close to tears with its near-perfection.  Don't forget the sensual details, sight, sound, taste, feel, smell.

2)    Create a short tribute for an inspirational person you admire (real person or fictional character) who first gave you a sense of beauty and awakened you to the possibility of being so present that life could be experienced on a higher, more creative and fulfilling plane of existence.

3)    Recall and write about a story (could be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essay) that was so viscerally powerful that, after you’d finished reading it,  your life was changed forever in a positive way.