Beauty is everywhere, slow down and take the time to appreciate it

Beauty is everywhere, slow down and take the time to appreciate it…

The soft warm breeze on a sunny fall day is my absolute favourite day. Feeling the sun upon my face, the breeze flowing and leaves dancing about. That’s the perfect day. I love fall. I love watching the trees change colour and the leaves fall to the ground. I love driving around and seeing all the colours from near and far. Fall has the most beautiful, rich shades of green, yellow, orange and red.

I took a fall Caddy cruise through Algonquin Park this fall and it was breathtaking. My poor dad had to listen to me say “OoOo look at those colours or OoOo that red is so pretty” Every red tree is an “OoOo” moment. I love to see all the fall colours but something about the dark reds that just makes me happy. I can’t quite put my finger on why I love the red trees. I am not normally a fan of red. I don’t have any red decor in my house. I have never owned a red car. I don’t work red into my wardrobe. Something about seeing red trees in the fall makes me smile. I think all the colours are beautiful but red, wow, red.

I took Charles, my dog for a walk down to the park the other day and it was a windy day. The lake was wild and wavy. We got stuck in a windy spot leaves blowing all around us. Leaves were stuck in our fur and hair. As the wind slowed down I caught sight of the most beautiful bright red leaf ever so slowly circling around in the wind like it was dancing with no one watching. As I stood thinking how beautiful this is, it reminded me of the scene in the movie American beauty with the plastic bag dancing in the wind. I remember when I watched that movie I thought what a stupid thing to watch this bag dancing in the wind. I was sucked into a negative mind set and couldn’t see the beauty in anything let along simple life moments. I am going to have to re-watch that movie now.

I think it’s interesting that trees for the most part start off with branches filled with green leaves. That those leaves survive our hot summers and transform into the most beautiful colours in the fall. Then they fall from the trees on the ground only to come back better and more beautiful each year. I have a few trees in my yard. I have been in my house now for 3 years and I have watched the trees around me produce some amazing colours and it seems each year I have more and more leaves to rake. The tree off my deck is a beautiful orange and yellow colour which I was sure to point out to my dad on his last visit “OoOOoO” look how pretty this tree is dad. The view from my deck is beautiful you can see the lake and my pretty orange yellow tree.

I think it’s fascinating that every leaf is different and unique. Makes me think of us and how we are all different and unique. That we are forever changing. Sometimes falling down and coming back better than ever. Sometimes if you’re like me you fall down a lot. I fall not just because I am accident prone or tall or generally clumsy. I fall because my negativity and repeated thoughts took me down to the ground, to a place where I didn’t want to get back up. When you’re down it seems easier to just stay right there. Things seem to hurt less if you just stay exactly where you are. You can get sucked into a place where you feel life isn’t worth living. You can get stuck where you can’t see the beauty in every day simple pleasures like the leaves. I know I have been there. I laugh just thinking about negative me walking my dog on a windy day. I would not have payed attention to the colour of the leaves I would have just been mad that they got stuck to me or that my hair was in my face. I would have been cold and would have wanted to go home. Heck I probably wouldn’t even have been outside. I would have been wasting the day away letting thoughts haunt me or sleeping my two favourite past times. I think of how much time I wasted being mad and I refuse to live like that for even one more second.

Positive me wants to shout to you “get outside! Enjoy the beautiful sights”. Slow down and truly enjoy the sights. You will be amazed at what you can see when you slow down and enjoy. I know life can be busy as I write this blog I have so many things I should be doing! I am new to this blogging thing but I have to say I am enjoying it. Take a few minutes and do something you enjoy every day. Life is too short to spend being anything besides freaking awesome. I am thankful to have survived my negativity and grateful to spend each and every day doing something I love.

Thank you to the dancing red leaf for reminding me to slow down and enjoy the everyday beauty of the great outdoors. Thanks dad for always caddy cruising and listening to me “OoOo” over the beautiful fall colours. Thanks Charles for getting me outside to walk and enjoy the beauty of all the seasons. I love where I live!