I’m on the plane, about to take off for Maui, and I’m considering beauty. Considering how I’m less settled in one physical space now than I have perhaps ever allowed myself to be in my life. Which means I seek anchors in strange places. I’m not anchoring myself through the portal of a physical home or relationship or workplace. Instead, I let small moments anchor me. A nourishing meal. Breath. Earth. A moment of vital truth with a friend. Moments of beauty, which soothe the mind and inspire. This freedom feels good, and reminds me of how powerful art (in all forms, named as such and entirely out of bounds) can be as an agent of soothing, support, and power.
How do you insist on beauty in your life? Where do you forge it? How do you make it? Moments of beauty, little pockets of organization, chaos, preserved lemons, art, one spare persimmon, obsessions, letters, keepsakes, a gift, passions, forgotten plants, synchrony of color, empty space, open space, wilderness, wild, inside and out. Beauty in the unknown.
How are you finding it?
Here is a gorgeous little tableau from my friend Caiti’s foothill cottage in Sierra Madre (she rents it on Airbnb! It’s so cute!), east of LA.
