On my drive to yoga today, I was passing through a rather seedy part of town, when I spotted a cluster of fake, plastic flowers at the base of a crooked mailbox which was leaning precariously towards the street. 

Now, I don't know about you, but every time I see fake, plastic flowers, I think "WHY?  Why would anyone go to the Dollar General and get fake, plastic flowers and stick them in a pot for decoration?  It's so tacky, so ugly, so cheap, so depressing."  That is my usual thought.

Today, however, I stopped myself at "WHY?"

I've been trying, recently, to question my thoughts rather than just accepting them blindly.  I've been practicing asking myself, "Oh, really?  Are you sure?  Is that true?  What do you mean?"  And so today, when I challenged my habitual repulsion regarding fake, plastic flowers, the answer to "WHY?" was pretty obvious.

Undoubtedly, the individual who put those flowers there did it with the intention to bring more beauty into her world.  And there is nothing tacky about an intention to bring more beauty into the world.  In fact, if anything were tacky in this scenario, it was my cynicism.  If anything were ugly, cheap or depressing here, it would have to be my critical, judgmental, rude inner reaction.

It's so easy to do, so common.  We say something snide, or even something true-but-unnecessary which does pretty much the opposite of bringing beauty to the world.  Even the humor of sarcasm, if we're not careful, can carry with it an undercurrent of ugliness.  Whether it is at the expense of the innocent, unknown gardner planting fake, plastic flowers or the most heinous politican or talking-head on any cable news network, I realize that my choices of thought, speech and action constantly affirm only two things:  beauty or ugliness.

When I take a moment to pause and see a thing with awareness, the response which arises is appreciation.  That doesn't mean I have to LIKE fake, plastic flowers.  I really don't.  But when I see them for what they represent, I can appreciate them because I understand them.  When I understand and appreciate, the next response is gratitude.  And, if one were to choose an operating position from which to live... there's no place more beautiful than a place of gratitude.

And so, I challenge myself and each of you to set an intention to CHOOSE beauty... to BRING beauty to the world and to SEE beauty in the world.  It is all around.  Even in fake, plastic flowers.

Namaste'