What to Do When Life Seems Ugly

Last month I’ve been turbo-charged on beauty,  and it all started with a silent encounter with a teenage girl.  As I rode the light rail to the northern edge of the line, the compartment emptied until it was just the two of us,  sitting opposite one another. She took out a prayer book, a common enough sight here in the holy city of Jerusalem, but what happened next was anything but.

As she silently mouthed the words, it was as if she was carrying on a passionate, animated conversation with a loved one she was thrilled to see. Her facial expressions lit up with love, excitement, joy, and understanding. I had never seen anyone carry on a conversation with God as she did.

When I got off the train, I had walked no more than a hundred meters when I was stunned by a hibiscus flower, its stunning lipstick red petals, delicate stamen, and pistils. On the train ride home, as we stopped at a light, my eyes caught an iridescent green hummingbird perched high up on a tree branch. I’ve certainly seen hummingbirds before, but never up that high, in a place with no flowers to attract it.

What was going on? I was riding a tidal wave of beauty. I wondered what would happen if I challenged myself to document one beautiful thing a day for 100 days. So I went home, posted something quick on Facebook, and a number of people thought it was a cool idea. I figured rather than allow my daily posts get quickly lost on my social media feed,  it would be simpler to track them in a group. I started One Beautiful Thing with no idea that others would join me on this journey.

There is an old adage, that what you focus on grows. In a world where our media is filled with negative and hateful images and messages, we must actively train our eyes to search for what is fine and good. Though beauty is everywhere, if our eyes are glued to scrolling our feeds or roaming the net, then we’re likely to miss it. We all have a choice: to expand the beauty in the world by keeping our senses open and sharing what we find with others or- to do nothing. I hope you’ll choose to join me by being a part of our group! As our group grows, and it is, so are the circles of beauty.  You can silently follow what others are posting, or actively add your own “finds.”

What have I discovered so far? I’ve found beauty in the natural world and in human creativity. Serendipity has led me to delightful encounters with strangers. And lastly, I’ve discovered the beauty in my own choices and decisions.

On another note, I’ve been busy making lots of videos. In the last one, I share something I did when I felt so lazy and tired I almost didn’t follow through on my 100-day challenge. Hopefully, it will help you too, if you’ve ever suffered “from I’m not in the mood,” or felt overwhelmed by a goal you set yourself. You can watch it here:

I’d love it if you comment and/or subscribe to my youtube channel!

Lastly, since I’ve been getting so much out of the challenge I set for myself, I’m considering offering you two free challenges in the very near future.

One will show you how to mine your nightly dreams for gold, in which I’ll teach the basics of how to remember, record and better understand your dreams for guidance, creativity, and healing.

The other will show you how to change unhelpful stories you may be telling yourself about money, relationships or yourself so you can shift your life in a more positive direction.

Please let me know ASAP if you’re interested so I can update you the moment I launch the challenges. I’d also like to know if there are specific questions you have that you’d like to see me answer regarding either of these topics. Just leave me a comment, below.