Seeing The Awe In The Ordinary

I love the flower mart in downtown Los Angeles. It’s like a Garden of Eden – two warehouses the size of two full city blocks filled with nothing but fresh flowers and plants.

It’s where florists go to buy their flowers. Endless rows of orchids. Miles of exotic buds from around the world. Zillions of roses of every color.

The flower mart was about to close (it opens at 2 am and close around noon) and I was running to the stall of my favorite florist who always has my favorite hot pink Gerber daisies.

And on the way, I saw these rainbow roses.

RAINBOW ROSES???????

Have you ever seen rainbow roses?????

I hadn’t – and I was so instantly overwhelmed with a childlike joy – rainbow roses!!! - It was like tasting ice cream for the first time or like seeing the beach for the first time. It was truly a wonder!

I just stood there marveling, pointing these out to everyone who walked by, sharing, “OMG’s!!!” with total strangers.

To see something so awe-inspiring, so amazing, something I’d never seen before – I can barely put words to it. I was gobsmacked – to the nth degree.

And later as I was texting this photo to friends and reliving the moment over and over, something occurred to me: It’s easy to get excited about something new, crazy colorful, and intriguing.

But how do we see the awe in the ordinary?

What I frequently work on with my clients is seeing beauty in all people, seeing beauty in all things – because what I know to be true is the more they develop the skill – and this is a skill – the happier they are.

Seeing beauty is a choice.

It’s a choice that starts with something very simple: taking a moment and choosing to acknowledge something beautiful in what’s before you – person, place or thing.

The more often you do it, the more natural it becomes.

So that’s my challenge for you today: have a look at something you see every day – it can be the smallest of things – a pen, a blade of grass. Or it can be a person you love who maybe you haven’t stopped to take a real close look at for awhile.

Take a moment – see the beauty, and give yourself the gift of seeing the awe in the ordinary.

Xo.