On Meeting the World with an Expectation of Beauty

Kindergarten art – Andy Goldsworthy-inspired environmental sculpture.
Created and photographed by two kindergarten students. 

"There is nothing you can see that is not a flower." 

-Basho

 

“I take the opportunity each day offers.”

—Andy Goldsworthy

I used to use the Panda Planner for my daily to-do list.  One of the features I liked was the section at the top, where you were supposed to write three things that you were grateful for and three things that you were excited about for the upcoming day.

Over time I built a habit of being grateful, and I continue that habit daily in my notebook, even though I'm not using the Panda Planner.  But I never got the hang of the "excited."  

And that has been bothering me.  

What does it mean when it's hard to create a list of what I'm excited about?  The day ahead becomes a list of calendar invites and and to-do lists.  When I write this, I think of an image of a person walking in a featureless landscape.   Nothing behind.  Nothing ahead.

__________X____________________________________________________

It could be different.  I could, like Andy Goldsworthy, look forward to what each day offers.  I could be looking forward to past things that I've been grateful for... my morning bike commute, a book I'm reading, daily hobby time, tea time with Jennie after work while we catch up on the day, or our daily walk in the neighborhood, listening to an album listed on Ted Gioia's list of best albums of last year, walks in the woods.

In general, I could be looking forward to novelty, laughter, beauty, pleasure, comfort, to building something, to adding something to what I've built, to unexpected things that will make me happy, to gift giving.

I re-write this phrase in each new notebook.  I can't recall where it's from.

Be silent.

Seek Beauty.

One of the key skills in life is this:  how to meet the world (interface with the world) with an expectation of novelty, beauty, pleasure, comfort.   

I'm realizing this reflection is another version of being receptive and the Gatsby-esque looking forward to the promises of life.  

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Check out this blog posting of a K-8 art teacher's lesson on imitating Goldsworthy's art.