Beauty around us

Amidst the chaos of our lives we have glimpses of a stillness, a calmness, a breathing living possibility outside all the goals we're trying to accomplish.

Recently I got up early and went on a long, multi-hour, hike with a friend. We watched the sunrise, enjoyed fun conversation, and explored the mountains near our home.

I was reminded about the joy of things that are outside material possessions (unless you count being able to live in the mountains, and in that case I'd say I'm really lucky to have that opportunity), things that you can't measure with money or the adulation of people.

When you spend time in nature, especially over months and years, you see the quiet breathing of the landscape, the slow shifting over time as life adapts, seasons change, plants grow, and animals shape the land.

When we spend a bit more time getting away from all the distractions of life, and get out into that nature, we enjoy a life that moves at a different pace than our own, and can also remind us of its beauty and inspire joy.

That's not to say that nature is all idyllic and peaceful. Just watch the battle between insects on the ground, or the predators chasing prey, and you'll quickly see that it's a life and death fight every day for much of nature.

But it also represents beauty and delight, and possibility.

I love light.

And, until recently, I was not the kind of person who would get up early to hike at sunrise. But in the last few years I've started waking up early——much to my personal chagrin——and find myself wanting to get out and explore, see nature, breathe fresh air.

When you're out hiking at sunrise (or sunset), you get to see something that's incredibly special. You see the landscape change, even as you move through it.

A grassy hill, which might feel stark and uninviting at noon, comes alive on the edges of the day as a living place where you could imagine fairies and fireflies dancing about.

A breezy mountaintop, overlooking valleys and further mountain ranges, covered with trees and grass, changing in the fall with various colors across the shrubs and plants, becomes an entirely different thing of beauty as the sun plays tricks with our eyes.

On that recent hike we went from starting out in the early light of morning to wrapping up three hours later, and all through that seeing the reds, oranges, blues, and purples of the sky shaping the world.

And it gave us so much opportunity for pause, to gaze out on the valley, to take in the way the rays of sunshine spread across the golden grass, shot through the green alpine forest, displayed the mist rising off the various mountain lakes.

This is beauty, and it's something easily missed.

I spend much of my life creating beauty inside of blue rectangular digital boxes. I don't regret it. I've gotten much joy out of investing in people and main their lives better by solving problems for them and using software to meet their needs.

But, it pails in comparison to a quiet sunrise. The colors I can imagine and create are nothing compared to the shifts in hues across a landscape.

I'm often amazed at the surprising locations I can find, places I'd never have imagined existed, which are simply waiting to display a new perspective on the world. Climb a craggy rock and see down from above at a different angle, clamber into a valley and feel the cool breeze on a hot day, follow a river and see nature come alive all around.

It's easy to miss out on all this, to think that life is merely a result of the world that we humans built with our hands and tools. There is beauty there——having spent time in Florence and Venice this summer I can attest to the joy of seeing works of art created by some of our greatest minds——but it's not all there is to see.

My hope is that I'm able to take more time in life getting out into nature, seeing it from new perspectives, climbing the next hill and seeing what waits beyond it.

And that's my hope for you too. I wasn't always able to have access to great hikes and locations, but there's always something to see, something to appreciate, even if it's a patch of grass and trees in the rising light of day.