Paying Attention to the Most Beautiful Details

Last week I mentioned the power of paying attention to details. The details of our lives. The details of our surroundings. The details of our relationships. The details in the details.

Writing my book has helped me notice the small yet big things of our lives, the things I used to regularly dismiss and some days still do. The sunset. The carpet of leaves outside my office window. My fiance’s eyes. My mother’s laugh. The scent of a pomegranate candle. The artwork on my favorite mugs. The strings in the song I’ll be walking down the aisle to. The power of a sentence. A word.

I was recently browsing the November issue of Reader’s Digest. In it, there’s a regular column called “Finish this Sentence.” The sentence to finish was “The Most Beautiful Sound in the World is…”

People’s responses ranged from the sound of kids laughing to silence in a war zone to a symphony to bacon frying to a husband snoring.

What is the most beautiful sound to you?

Today, this week, this weekend, consider paying attention to the beautiful details in your life, to the beautiful details all around you, to the beauty within you.

Here are other ideas for sentences to finish:

• The most beautiful reflection in a puddle is …
• The most beautiful scent is …
• The most beautiful taste is …
• The most beautiful word is …
• The most beautiful work of art is …
• The most beautiful tree is …
• The most beautiful color is …
• The most beautiful melody is …
• The most beautiful landmark is …
• The most beautiful book is …
• The most beautiful sunset has these colors …
• The most beautiful shape of the moon is …
• The most beautiful movement my body makes is …
• The most beautiful question is …
• The most beautiful musical instrument is ..
• The most beautiful thing about my best friend/spouse/sibling/child/parent/grandparent/loved one is …
• The most beautiful creature is …
• The most beautiful flower petal is …
• The most beautiful tool is …
• The most beautiful field is …
• The most beautiful part of the holidays is …
• The most beautiful thing about today is …
• The most beautiful thing about me is …

There is always beauty around us, within us. We just have to open our eyes — and all our senses — to see it, to feel it, to taste it. To drink it in.