Six simple ways to infuse beauty into your life
A quick guide to beauty for the busy bees
Yesterday, my niece asked how I post articles every day.
Because I’m keen on creating a more aesthetic world, one person at a time.
My appreciation for beauty is in everything I do. Nature, colours, music, and art inspire me.
Since I can remember, stopping to look at things is in my nature. But not everyone is wired like that. Today's article is about how to stop and appreciate beauty when you live a busy life where the world moves fast, appointments are tight, and time is rare.
Once you understand that appreciating beauty on a day-to-day level does not involve only involves aesthetic pleasure. It will enrich your life, improving your mood, your appearance and your living space.
Here's how you can breathe life into your busy schedule by appreciating beauty:
1. Embrace mindfulness
Be present: amidst a hectic day, pause and exist. Some things never change, like sunlight streaming through windows.
Explore life through your senses: dedicate a few daily moments to seeing and feeling. Listen to the world around you, feel objects and textures, and breathe in the scents that are in your presence. It’s amazing how something so simple can bring you such joy and pleasure.
2. Cultivate gratitude
Start a gratitude journal: each night, write about things that brought you joy or made you smile. Soon, the pages in your journal will reveal just how much beauty exists in your life. And that’s something to be thankful.
Express gratitude: beauty shared is beauty doubled. Thank a coworker for their help, compliment a stranger, or simply share a smile. It will not only spread beauty but also enforce you to appreciate it.
Reflect on your experience: end your day by reflecting on experiences that were beautiful or positive. Such a practice also helps in bookmarking your day with positivity at the end.
3. Connect with nature
Daily nature walks: even if it’s just a walk around the block or through a nearby park, make it a point to get outside and connect with the natural world. Observe the change of seasons, the resilience of urban plants, or the freedom of soaring birds.
Mindful observation: take time to appreciate little things around you: the symmetry of leaves, the gradient of a sunset. This practice not only calms your mind but also trains your eyes to seeing beauty in nature’s design.
Nature as inspiration: let the beauty of nature inspire creative projects or use the tranquillity of nature for meditation or relaxation, intertwining aesthetics with personal development.
4. Simplify your surroundings
Beautify your space: your environment is the result and of your mind. Have decor that you think is beautiful.
Shop with intention: everything that you choose to bring into your space should either be of use or beauty and should bring joy to your daily life.
Regular decluttering: you will appreciate more once your surroundings are clean and visually appealing.
5. Engage in creative activities
Explore Arts and Crafts: spend a few minutes to explore it in your day. You can doodle during lunch break or in your commute, you can capture interesting photos of things that piqued your interest during your walks. This will make you discover beauty in places you never expected.
Capture moments: freeze beautiful moments in life through photography or journaling. It secures the happiness and helps you see beauty in the world as you flip life album.
Attend cultural events: immerse yourself in art. Experiencing local museums, cathedrals, Opera, or music concerts, will expose you to new ideas of beauty while enriching your cultural experience.
6. Practice positivity and kindness
Positive affirmations: start your day by being positive and seeing the beauty of everything. It pushes you to see beautiful things even in the simplest or hardest times of your life.
Feel beauty: no act of kindness is too small to create a beautiful experience for someone else and yourself.
Abandon negativity: prioritize what’s going well instead of what isn’t (especially if it’s out of your control) This keeps you in a place of gratitude and awe, regardless of whether things are unfolding exactly the way you hoped they would.
By incorporating these practices into your daily life, you won’t just go through life: you’ll observe it in all its colourful, interesting aspects. Beauty lies not only in the eye of the beholder, but in the life that chooses to perceive it.