It’s not what you look at that matters…it’s what you see

Perspective is everything in this game of life we play.

As the sun peeks it’s head at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and the birds begin to tweet out their merry morning song and the gentle glow seeps colour into the dark sky, as the laughter of the stars fade out – a new day begins.

This same routine has occurred for thousands of years even before humankind opened it’s bright young eyes. And it will continue long after we shut them, weary, for the final time.

Each new day signals a beginning. The day is a blank canvas.

We are poised, paintbrush in hand, ready to choose the colours we paint our day with. An infinite palette of colours we can choose from.

Yet as soon as it begins, the countdown to night also starts.

Each day contains hours to fill with whatever you choose. You can feel whatever feelings come your way. You can plan the day, or take on life’s moments unexpectedly. The world is your oyster.

I implore you. Wake not with a tired head and a face with a frown.

But jump out of bed! Be merry and dance your way through the holy morning.

Open your curtains and feel your heart pumping blood through your veins, see Mother Earth waking her sleepy eyes too.

Forget the troubles of yesterday.

Remember only that you must drink water, walk outside and play!

Life’s pleasures are simple.

But,

each person carries with them many stresses, many worries, fears, aches from the past. Balanced upon our shoulders, the burden of being human can become heavy. Layers of bricks and stacks of stones piled high on our back. Weighing our heads down, bowed, eyes and hearts grazing the earth we walk upon.

Caught up in the mess, tangled in the knots, it’s easy to let this dark cloud creep onto the canvas of our day.

It’s so easy to get caught up on the little things. Maybe it’s raining and you’re wishing for summer. Maybe the dishwasher wasn’t put on and you have to hand-wash a cheese grater. Maybe today you’re lost in a past memory more than usual.

You feel a hand gripping your heart and brain – helpless, useless, everything is wrong.

The palette is full of dull greys, bottomless blacks and raging reds.

You look at the mess, the knot, feel the tension in the dark, foreboding sky.

But it’s not what you look at that matters,

it’s what you see.

-Henry David Thoreau

If I’ve learnt one thing in my short 18 years, it is that there truly is beauty all around us. Yes, there is horror and sadness and heartbreak and gloom and war.

But too, there are wildflowers, old villas painted the colours of the rainbow, there are cats waiting on corners to be petted, trees reaching their arms to the heavens.

There are people who hold their arms out open to you. Who turn their backs to show you they are willing to bear some of your heavy load.

SEE the beauty, see the goodness.

Pick up the paintbrush and choose the colours of joy. Look for the place within yourself that made you endlessly curious as a child, that made you laugh and giggle and cry with tears of joy.

Don’t live in time – but live in moments.

We’ve been taught from day one that life is a race – and we can only win it with wealth and popularity. But it doesn’t really matter what’s in your pocket and how fast you run.

Rather what matters is what lies within your heart.

What matters is how hard your heart beats when you are sharing your passion with someone, how many times it skips when your eyes catch the eyes of the person you love, how intensely it pumps when you find the courage to be who you are, how much it aches when you watch a sad movie. How much it contains. How much it feels.

For life can be over just like that.

You never know when your time will come, when the people you loves’ time will come. A bus could be just round the corner as you cross the road.

It’s all about what you see.

SEE the little moments. Make the little moments meaningful.

Call you Mother, email your Father, text your Grandma, write to your best friend. Create art. Go for a run to clear your head. Snuggle up next to your partner. Cook your favourite dessert and share it with your friends.

SEE the goodness all around you.

End the day with no regrets – say what you feel and be who you dream.

Live each day as if it were the final day of your extraordinary ordinary marvellous wonderful life.

Perspective is everything.

Light and goodness is always around us.

Because even when the sky is full of clouds brimming with tears, brooding with anger…the sun still moves across the sky, it’s warmth kissing the tops of the cloudy heads.

The light is there.

See it.