My late dad would always endeavor to find beauty amidst the tedium of every day life. Probably one of the biggest parts of my life, for example, was sitting around the table for dinner every evening.

For dad, every evening meal was a beautiful daily ritual to be relished and enjoyed. His insatiable enthusiasm for life manifested itself in this special part of the day.

So whilst mum was cooking up a delectable dish, dad would pootle about lighting candles, flicking on fairy lights, hiding away the indomitable clothes maiden or folding up any items that hung on the radiator to dry, indeed, tidying away anything that upset the tidiness or caused the dining area to look unseemly.

He would peruse through his music collection and put on some cool, chilled jazz sounds and then, having seen to it that everyone was in receipt of a pre-dinner drink of some description, he'd perhaps pour a golden Belgian beer into one of his favourite, freshly polished glasses. Then, he'd step outside, whatever the weather, and meander about the garden in his own meditative silence until dinner was declared ready. This was dad's custom whether it be a good day or a bad day, a Saturday or a Tuesday.

Like anyone, dad had his fair share of problematic times when he felt under tremendous pressure. Even on those days though, it was important to dad that the day ended with some kind of beauty and not merely in a functional, slob-in-front-of-the-TV kind of a way.

If we were to ask ourselves, what part of the day could I make more beautiful? Or, what daily ritual could I be more mindful about? I wonder what moments of beauty we could add to life's daily routine?

Suzy

The Moodscope Team