The Vastness of Tiny Beauty

Whenever I lose perspective on the relative scale of majesty and trouble, I seek out the smallest beauty I can find. It’s a miracle, how in the midst of whatever chaotic scene I see, I can always find some minuscule detail that restores my sense of wonder and awe. When I explore the world within that detail, it reminds me that the tiny is just as beautiful as the vast.

Seeking that beauty doesn’t even have to be intentional. Just the other day, I felt the societal clouds darken above me, and begin to shade the lightness of my mood. That, in turn, began to place a weight on my movements through the day. It started to impact the light love with which I had intended to infuse my movements. I was in danger of becoming the day’s dark cloud, rather than being simply underneath it.

Suddenly, however, there was a falling leaf! The dance that maple leaf did, in letting go from the tree and embracing its release, was as graceful as any that human choreography could imagine. Its animation, its expression, its entwining with the air, felt as emotional and spiritual to me as any other pas de deux.

Then the leaf hit the creek. The ensuing ripples were made as much of color as water, it appeared. It was mesmerizing, to see the abstract pattern the leaf had made, in collaboration with the creek, the light, the colors of leaves still on the trees, the autumn blue sky, and ultimately my eyes and heart, all an integrated part of one fleeting yet forever memorable moment.

That flashing instant was like a secret door to the day. As soon as I passed through it, my attention was drawn to the day’s true headlines: the endless permutations of beauty in the leaves, creek, trees, sky, breezes, sounds, stillness. Time and worry disappeared from me. For how long, I don’t know, because the expanding seconds contained so much timeless, tiny beauty. I let go of whatever tasks and worries might’ve seemed more important, within my focus. I don’t even know what they were, now.

All I know is that the beauty and exhilaration I experienced were not a distortion, but a return to clarity. A return to perspective that serves.

Once I returned to the human aspects of the natural world, I noticed a strange parallel: The small acts of human kindness I witnessed, often as light and unnoticed as a falling leaf, also restored my perspective on human beauty. The outsized bold black type of headlines disappeared, next to the simple kind gestures I witnessed. That in turn allowed me to return to being one who embodied those gestures, rather than merely receiving them.

In the end, I remembered: beauty can’t be measured by the size of the thing in which it’s perceived. Kindness, too, can’t be measured by the impact of it on the globally visible world. Our human world is made from our tiny efforts, which are as vast and majestic as any great work of art. Each may remain unnoticed, but over time, they nurture the earth as much as the leaves, making possible another year of growth in the endlessly beautiful world.