you find what you look for
When I redesigned my site over a year ago, I decided to add a tagline. As it happens, "Wildly Convinced You're Uncommonly Beautiful" was an easy one to pick: having written a book about beauty and photographed hundreds of people, the statement wasn't just a platitude -- I had truly become wildly convinced that each person is uncommonly beautiful.
I'm sure many people who see this phrase at the top of my site regard it with some skepticism. I hardly think you've met everyone in the world, they might muse to themselves. I mean, you haven't met my ex-husband. There isn't a drop of beauty in that guy. And perhaps that's true; certainly I've run into my share of folks who are capable of some ugly behaviour. But the fact remains: my experience tells me if I take a moment to breathe, and really look at someone, I mean really look at him, I am invariably able to see beauty. Sometimes it's physical -- like striking eyes, or a broad smile, or elegant hands. Other times, a person's beauty might manifest in a talent: a passion around a particular hobby, say, or a facility with kids, or even an ability to tell an amazing story. And sometimes, the beauty isn't tangible at all; it's just an aura. His spirit.
But nonetheless, the beauty is there.
Yesterday, I visited the site of one my favourite photographers, Hailey Bartholomew. I've been a fan of Hailey's for a few years now (and her philosophy on gratitude closely mirrors mine), so I knew that I was going to find some lovely little gem of beauty when I landed on her site. I was right: she had just published a very sweet video about finding rocks shaped like hearts, ostensibly to show her kids that "what we see mainly depends on what we look for."
Here, you should watch it -- click on the image below (just under 3 minutes long):
Sweet, isn't it? In that lovely little video, she has encapsulated everything I believe about finding beauty -- and, for the record, finding ugliness, as well. You find what you look for.
So.
I remain wildly convinced you're uncommonly beautiful -- and that life is uncommonly beautiful -- because I'm looking for it, man. And I make a dogged, determined, practice of looking for it. I view this site as my tool for capturing and recording it. And invariably, I've been able to find it. Almost every time time.
Because it's there.
Incidentally, if you'd like to begin a practice to convince yourself there is beauty in your life, consider joining us for Path Finder. It promises to be an introspective, mess-making, art-creating, superpower-discovering great time, and we'd love to have you. Registration is open now.