Rainbow in the Fountain

With all the saddening news around, it’s very easy to miss out on the beautiful things in the world—simple pleasures like the rays of the sun forming rainbows in a fountain you pass every day. Sometimes, you have to stop and look to really see the joys of life. They’re all around you, little blessings that make you smile.

Forget about the troubles engulfing your heart and turning it cold. Look around you. What do you see? At first, you may see a maddening traffic jam that inspires rage in your heart. If you look beyond that, you may see the clouds parting slightly or new rays of sunlight welcoming the day. You may notice birds flying as they search for their meals.

As you continue to observe beyond the obvious, you may smell the fresh scent of dew on leaves as the wind rustles the trees around you. You may hear running water flowing in a nearby stream.  As you take in the world, you may begin to appreciate the fact that you’re able to experience this world because you’re alive and living in it.

But maybe this experience of beauty is disturbed by a flickering thought about a business meeting or deadline you’re about to miss because you’re still stuck in traffic. You need to push that thought back because the situation is beyond your control. There are solutions. You could get out of the car and walk the rest of the way or join your meeting by teleconference. What matters is bringing your mind back to the world you live in.

Since you’re thinking about work, you could start to appreciate just how much your life benefits from having a reliable source of income. If you work for a non-profit, you could think about the good you’re doing in the world. Maybe you’re not going to work. Maybe you’re taking the kids to school. You could look in the back seat and smile at the little faces smiling back. There’s a blessing in being a part of shaping the next generation. There are joys in being a host and guardian to a little person who could someday change the world.

There are beauties in every situation, no matter how bad it looks at first. Many times, you just need to look beyond the obvious to see it. Finding the rainbow in the fountain releases a song of joy in your heart that refreshes your body and soul and fills you with gratitude. Gratitude takes away the tendency to be envious and unnecessarily competitive, which in turn prevents your body and bones from rotting with bitterness.

Finding joy gives you joy, which frees you to just be, and in being, you become who you were meant to be—a little happier, a little freer, a lot more fulfilled. Find your rainbow in the fountains you pass every day.