Why Moments of Beauty Matter

I was reading the July-August issue of Home Education Magazine and came across an article by Erin Labelle, The Heart Follows the Eyes. In it she writes:

My husband and I are photojournalists. We have chosen to celebrate what is good and hopeful through our work because we feel it inspires and encourages.

If you see love, you want to be loved. A bit like the Law of Attraction folks, we have found that focusing on people who have overcome, people who help others, nature, loving relationships, gratitude, altruism and just plain old goodness we have been able to encourage others to do the same. I have learned that wherever I point my camera, my mind is sure to follow. "The heart follows the eyes," my husband says, a bit more poetically to his students. . . Photography can be a form of meditation that fills the heart with gratitude.

Back in 2008, I did a blog for a year focusing on Moments of Beauty (after that year, I transferred ownership of it) and periodically on this blog, I try to feature one I've come across. But with social media and the proliferation of smart phones, it is so easy now to find and share moments of beauty. I searched on twitter for the hashtag #momentofbeauty and found that there are a few people who use it. It would be wonderful if there were more, but even if the hashtag isn't used, it's so important to take the time in our day to notice those small things that we might otherwise pass by like a bird or a flower or a work of art or architectural element or any one of the multitude of beautiful moments in our world. Yes, there is a great deal of pain in this world, but there is also an abundance of goodness and beauty. I invite you to take the time to notice and share them.