Beauty Is Not a Luxury: How Noticing Beauty Deepens Faith and Builds Resilience
Listen to my podcast episode on this story.
Have you ever found yourself rushing through your day, barely noticing the world around you? It's easy to become so focused on our responsibilities and worries that we miss the beauty that surrounds us. Yet what if noticing beauty isn't simply a pleasant pastime? What if it's actually a spiritual practice that helps us connect more deeply with God and strengthens our resilience?
Over the past several years, I've come to see beauty differently. Through daily walks, resilience training, and reflecting on God's creation, I've discovered that paying attention to beauty isn't a luxury ~ it's an essential part of caring for our souls. In this post, I'd love to share why noticing beauty has become one of the most meaningful spiritual practices in my own life and invite you to cultivate this practice wherever you are.
Finding Beauty in Everyday Life
For the past nine years, I've had the privilege of living on the north coast of Ireland. As I write this, I'm in the process of moving to another beautiful part of the world ~ Colorado. Looking back, I realise just how much the landscape around me has shaped my spiritual life.
Beauty was always just outside my front door. Each day I could walk down the hill to the beach and take in the beauty of the Irish Sea and the ever-changing landscape.
Not every walk was comfortable. Sometimes the wind blew fiercely against me, or sleet stung my face. But no matter the weather, beauty was always there.
In the summer, I delighted in the vibrant flowers growing along the roadside. In the winter, once I adjusted to the darkness, I found myself looking up in wonder at the vast sky filled with stars.
Those walks taught me something simple yet profound: beauty is always present. My task was simply to notice it.
Why Beauty Matters for Resilience
When I trained in resilience, I discovered that noticing beauty is a core resilience skill.
That immediately resonated with me because I realised it was exactly what I had been practising during my daily walks.
Noticing beauty isn't just about admiring something lovely. It's about intentionally taking in the world around us through all of our senses ~ what we see, hear, smell, touch, and experience.
When we slow down and truly pay attention, beauty has a way of restoring us. It grounds us in the present moment and reminds us that goodness still exists, even during difficult seasons.
We often think of beauty as something optional ~ something we enjoy once everything else is done. But I've come to believe the opposite.
Beauty is not a luxury.
It is a gift that nurtures our well-being and helps us remain grounded and centered.
Simple Ways to Practice Noticing Beauty
Like any spiritual practice, noticing beauty grows through intention.
Here are a few simple ways to begin:
Take a walk and intentionally observe the world around you.
Slow down enough to notice what you see, hear, smell, and feel.
Take photographs of moments that capture your attention.
Write about your experiences in a journal.
Pause throughout your day to appreciate the beauty already present in ordinary moments.
The goal isn't to search for extraordinary experiences. It's simply to become more attentive to what is already there.
Beauty as a Reflection of the Creator
I've often reflected on the words of the Irish saint Columbanus:
"If you wish to know the Creator, first come to know creation."
For many years, I understood those words primarily through nature.
More recently, I've begun to think about creation more broadly.
Creation includes music, visual art, dance, writing, and every form of human creativity. As people made in the image of God, we are creators too.
Whenever we create something beautiful ~ or appreciate the beauty created by someone else ~ we participate in that wonderful gift of creativity that reflects God's own nature.
Beauty invites us to know the Creator more deeply.
A Creative Invitation for the Summer
This summer, our Summer for the Soul book club has been reading The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad.
One reflection that particularly inspired me is Michael Bierut's essay, The Art of Dailiness, which suggests choosing one small creative act to practise every day for one hundred days.
During one of our recent live sessions, I invited everyone to think about one creative practice they could embrace between now and the end of the summer.
As I'm moving between one home and another, I've chosen a simple practice of my own.
Each day, I'm taking one photograph of a moment of beauty.
It may be a landscape, changing light, a flower, or something completely ordinary that catches my attention.
The practice only takes a moment.
What it really requires is that I slow down, open my eyes, and notice.
Perhaps you'd like to choose a simple creative practice of your own ~ one that helps you become more aware of beauty and more attentive to God's presence in your everyday life.
Final Reflection
Beauty isn't something to save for special occasions.
It is woven into our everyday lives, waiting to be noticed.
As we pay attention to the beauty around us ~ in nature, in creativity, and in the ordinary moments of our day ~ we become more aware of God's presence and more deeply rooted in hope.
This week, I invite you to slow down and intentionally notice one beautiful thing each day.
Take a photograph.
Write it down.
Pause long enough to appreciate it.
May this simple practice become a form of prayer, a source of resilience, and a reminder that we are created in the image of God, the Creator.
Listen to my podcast episode here: https://spiritualpracticesforthesoul.substack.com
