Fighting to Make Beauty a Choice

The Question of Beauty

Points of Light, I have a question for you. Are you ready? Okay, the question is this: "What is beauty?"

To answer this, I want you to assume beauty is equal to happiness. Perhaps we all should answer this question, each in our own subjective way. In this way, beauty would be defined by our own intrinsic desires, wants, and needs. With all our individual answers collected, we might begin to understand that beauty isn't found outside of ourselves, but rather within.

So, isn't it true that we must be willing to reach deep within ourselves and accept that this beauty, while both ethereal and ideal, is still a substance we must choose to receive for it to become a real manifestation in our lives?

I once put it more simply: "Points of Light, darkness can be a choice – not the best choice, but a choice nonetheless. So that leaves light as a choice, and isn't it by far the better choice? ... If I look at a person and choose to see darkness, I have no color to write their story in my heart. But when I choose light, I have all the color I need to write their story into a beautiful word painting, wonderful for everyone who sees it. Which choice do I make? Well, if I desire my heart to smile as much as I desire gold, I choose the latter – I choose the light."

In this statement, I'm not suggesting I know anything about the other person's self-perception, actualization, or intrinsic thoughts and feelings about what beauty is to them. Rather, I'm asserting how the state of my own intrinsic mind and emotions may offer me an opportunity to find an ethereal, yet substantive, form of beauty that's real and personal to me. I can then utilize this internal state to write a beautiful story, using someone outside of myself as my muse.

Defining Light, Color, and Beauty

So, Points of Light, let's expand on something I mention repeatedly in WritingBeautifulLight. I often talk about finding light, color, and beauty in life, and how discovering all three is essential for a fulfilling life. I've said that only with light do we see color, and only with color can we discover and then "paint" or "write" (if you will) beautiful pictures and stories based on and of a life well lived.

I wrote about discovering this light, color, and beauty for a couple of years without ever fleshing them out or adding definition to them, feeling their meaning was easily intuited. However, I've recently come to feel that they should be made explicit by describing what I mean by them.

So, to clarify, Light represents the choice to see the world through a positive lens, illuminating the good and the possible. Color embodies the wonder and awe we find in the world's rich diversity. And Beauty is the harmonious blend of these two, the happiness that emerges when we actively seek out and appreciate the positive and the wondrous in our lives.

The Journey to Happiness

So, if we truly consider my question, "What is beauty?", we uncover a personal journey each of us must embark upon – a journey within our thoughts and emotions – to understand what beauty truly means to us and then actively seek it out in our lives.

First, we must find our light. This requires a conscious choice, sometimes a difficult one, to view our world, or at least our immediate surroundings, through a positive lens.

Second, we must allow ourselves – with the same tenderness we might offer to others – to use this positive perspective to discover the wonders that await us. It may take practice, patience, and a willingness to silence our inner critic, but the rewards are immeasurable.

Third, as we cultivate this positive outlook, we'll find it opens our hearts and minds to the wonder and beauty that surrounds us. This, in turn, nourishes our deepest desires, wants, and needs, leading us to the ultimate treasure: true and authentic happiness.

This three-step journey:

Finding positivity - light

Embracing wonder - color

Discovering happiness - beauty

Is the path to a life well-lived. It's a path paved with intention, curiosity, and a deep appreciation for the world and all its hidden delights.

So, with this knowledge, what have we learned? We've discovered an incredible tool to help all Points of Light achieve a fulfilling life. But I can still hear you asking, "Tod w/ only one d, how can we use this?" Excellent question. Let's walk through this using a concrete and practical example...

A Practical Example

Now, we can accept that a friend or family member's smile isn't a smirk at worst or just a smile to placate at best. Instead, this pleasant smile can become a thing of beauty as you realize the happiness it expresses. You can rationally think and understand that from somewhere deep within your friend or family member, something wondrously amazing has filled them with overwhelmingly good feelings that they cannot contain.

They feel compelled to express these good feelings with the smile you've had the pleasure of discovering on their upturned lips. With this realization, you've allowed a very pleasant and positive light to enter your life. With this newfound light, you now perceive the true value of a smile, understanding it's not something to be taken for granted. So you allow your heart to find something behind the smile that's spectacularly amazing and special. And whatever that amazing and special something is, it has afforded you the opportunity to discover a unique wonder in the world closest to you. You can call this color. So now, as you bask in the light of their smile, understanding that something truly amazing has filled this person with joy, and as you've used this light to recognize the wonder and color their smile has brought into your life, you can now allow yourself to fully experience the beauty and happiness of this special moment, gifted to you by a simple, elegant smile.

The Choice of Darkness

Now, if we choose, we can recognize that we could have experienced the opposite of light, color, and beauty in this encounter. After all, it began with a choice, didn't it? As I've said, darkness, while not a desirable option, is still a choice. In darkness, we cannot perceive color, and without color, we struggle to find beauty. Read more about this in this post - The Choice Between Dark and Light.

So, had we chosen darkness when we encountered the smile, we could have remained trapped in the negative belief that it was insincere or dismissive. But, as we've discussed, this darkness stems from something within ourselves. Perhaps we've conditioned our thoughts and emotions to perceive our own desires and needs as inherently negative or "dark." In this state, we remain stuck in the shadows, unable to find true happiness.

The Path Back to Light

Points of Light, I've experienced this darkness firsthand. I've also found my way out, discovered and written extensively about happiness (even extreme happiness), but then faced challenges and temporarily slipped back into the shadows. I'm actively working on finding my way back to the light once more.

I'm rediscovering the timeless truth that, just like you, when I choose to, I already possess all the light I need to see and reflect—among life's many encounters, and as illustrated by the example in this story—upon the intricate details and profound positivity contained within a family member or friend's smile. Within me lies everything I need to paint a vibrant and beautiful story about the magic of this smile. As I've often shared, I've spent a lifetime searching for beauty. And all along, while stuck in my "rut," all I needed to do was pause, take a breath, and listen to the light within my heart. Because within my own desires, wants, and needs lies everything I need to create wondrous stories of light, color, and beauty. In other words, my heart and thoughts are the only places in this vast world where I can find true and lasting happiness.

Love and Peace.

Tod w/ only one d