On Seeing Beauty: A Daily Challenge

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

For the past three months, I’ve been working on an experiment. It’s been a simple experiment, involving only my iPhone and an app called Instagram. The challenge has been to see if I can find one beautiful thing about each day and take a photograph of it. The result? An improved daily perspective.

This summer, I’ve seen beauty in unexpected places: a shell tree on the beach, a tangerine sunset, a fleeting rainbow, a used palette, a skyline, and a family game night Monopoly board. And now, once I’ve started looking for something beautiful in each day, I find I notice it more and more … a child’s smile, a held hand, a delicate flower.

What do you think? Do you want to join in on the challenge? It’s easy to participate on Instagram (if you have an iPhone), or just take photos for your own pleasure and challenge. I promise it makes the day brighter — the discipline of seeking and seeing beauty.

One added bonus: Instagram has a fun sliding menu of filters to apply to your photos, so you can see them, enhance them, and share them in different lights.

I’d love to hear from you and see your photos if you take up the challenge. If you’re on twitter, post them with the hashtag #beauty (that way we can see them, too) or on Instagram, find me at jenniferlynking. I’ll look forward to following your daily pursuit of seeing beauty, and I’d love to hear what you think after a few weeks!

For you: Do you challenge yourself to look for the good in each day? Beauty? Have you found a good way of capturing and sharing photos with friends? I’d love to hear about it! (Leave a comment below — the new blog comments system is much easier than before!)