As I write this week’s experiment, I’m alternating between writing and gazing at an amaryllis plant on my windowsill. The flowers are a brilliant coral color and take my breath away each time I see them. What started out as a bulb in a pot of dirt – many months ago – has become a pot filled with three huge blossoms. All I did was add water and something miraculous happened. When I say “miraculous”, I don’t mean that the flower’s growth is something we don’t understand mechanically. What I mean is that the whole process exists in the first place and works so beautifully represents something magical by its very existence.

This beauty is all around us, in every moment, and the mystery and magic of the physical world offers a focus for discovering constant delight. As the year moves along from inter to spring, or for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere from summer to fall, nature will be busy revealing its constant creativity as the seasons change. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and especially those of us in the colder climates, in the next couple of months we’ll begin to see the stirrings of vegetation. Flowers will begin to appear and, eventually, green will return. Somewhere in the wisdom of nature, and the cycles within which it unfolds its mysterious beauty, the interplay of light and temperature signal an awakening. In the Southern Hemisphere, this same time signals a season of slowing down and quieting.

This week’s experiment invites you to do something I’ve mentioned many times before. In whatever ways you find available to you, pay attention to the world around you and take the time to notice and honor the beauty you discover. Even if you see plants, animals, birds, or other elements of your environment you’ve seen a million times, for this week see them with new eyes, as if for the first time. When we see something as if for the first time, we allow ourselves the possibility of discovering things we’ve overlooked, taken for granted, or didn’t notice before that can become sources of real delight. Notice what it’s like if you find delight in the mere fact that these life forms exist, and in the unique forms and colors they bring into your world.

Again, this experiment automatically takes us into the arena of gratitude, which is such a powerful practice for health and well-being. When we bother to notice the beauty around us, we tend to spontaneously move into gratitude. Then, the energy of gratitude itself is likely to create a sense of greater aliveness and enthusiasm. Notice if this happens for you. Also, if you’re going through a period when life doesn’t feel like it’s working for you, be sure to make room for your mixed feelings. Whenever we do these experiments, we’re not trying to make something go away. We’re always enlarging the field, adding new options, expanding the menu. So, notice what’s not going right and allow it to move into the background, for the moment, as you bring your noticing and appreciation of the world around you into the foreground.