I live with a cat who picked me up at the shelter. He is wild, skittish, and very sweet. I am not permitted to pick him up. Nobody is. Ever. We have two designated patting areas. The old easy chair upstairs and the big comfy couch downstairs. The door the the porch must be opened wide enough for him to pass freely, with no feeling of hurry up about it. He needs enough time to contemplate the riskiness of the venture. You must stand off a bit to the side so as not to loom unnecessarily. The planets must be properly aligned and the wind blowing in the right direction and then, and only then he will dart out to his beloved front porch. He is very affectionate and loving on his own terms, which I fully accept. We both understand each other. I provide him with steady grub, a warm place to bunk and a good head scratching now and then. And he, well, being a cat, he lets me. The fact that I understand him, and he understands me leads us to the beauty of having an understanding of each other. Everyone has their own personal private Rosetta Stone. Understanding helps us gently crack the code. This is where the heart recognizes and honors the needs of another, regardless of whether it all makes sense or not. Understanding is born out of trust, a knowing of all conditions and a complete acceptance of them. What kind of understandings do you have in your life? Are they silent agreements? Could they be formed more firmly with words? Do you have an understanding with yourself?

Commitment shows up as a pledge, a promise, a taking on of responsibility or duty.

Engagement. Attention. Perseverance.

Commitment can present itself as an obligation. What we’ve committed to has been entrusted to us, depends on us.

My dog created a surprising amount of work in raising a puppy. Especially coming from the perspective of someone who has lived her entire life in the company of cats. I was not fluent in dog when I took him on. His needs were/are simple. I just have to show up a lot , sometimes in ways I had not anticipated. He has a frank, unguarded look of enthusiastic gratitude that makes it all worth it. This is where commitment creates great Beauty. That look, and the bond it comes from.

Commitment also has a bit of an awkward alternate meaning of involuntary consignment to a nice rest somewhere away from people. This can still fit when you have to put aside what looks like good sense to hitch your wagon to your dreams.

Commitment like that becomes a duty of the heart. Your thoughts, dreams and ideas are so tender and helpless before they’re expressed. Your commitment is a matter of life itself to them.

What are your commitments, big and small? Did you choose them for yourself? Are your commitment seamless with your purpose, or are you sowing bits of resentment here and there when you meet them?

Fragility illustrates or suggests the ephemeral. It came to me how fragility and Beauty dovetail into each other when I discovered magnolia buds shriveled and clutched from a hard cold snap, still lovely in their own way even with their hopes for a full bloom dashed. Fragility can be a foreshadowing of loss. It is a reminder of our own soft spots, including our mortality. It can highlight the value or preciousness of a thing. It’s a Tennessee Williams delicate hothouse character about to lose her petals, always depending on the kindness of strangers. The dictionary tells us it includes objects whose lightness and delicacy of material require that they be handled with great care. This defines pretty much everyone and everything at some point. We all experience it, that’s why it’s so touching to recognize it. At best, it calls our attention to the fact that there are times when we can and should be very gentle and patient and kind.

I had a very clear crisp dream about an image I could make to illustrate simplicity. So here it is. Only it’s not exactly like in my dream, it seemed to want to do things of its own in waking life and this is what I ended up with.

So that’s how this week’s Beauty muse was selected, straight from my subconscious.

Once I had my marching orders I went straight to my trusty dictionary of course. There are more words there to describe what simplicity is not rather than what it is. Simplicity is the removal of all but what is essential. Whether expressed in design or philosophy, in form or thought, simplicity peels away all complexity and artificiality.

I start to think of vanilla. plain, papery muslin. The shape of an egg.

Simplicity is the basic integrity of a thing. A direct clearness that can lead to nowhere but clarity. There’s great Beauty in the natural expression of simplicity.

Wanting more simplicity makes you think of what you can eliminate or have less of . Letting go of in order to gain. A little bit of a paradox.

Balance is the point of grace in the middle of tension. Balance is equity. Balance brings good health. Balance can occur naturally if you’re lucky, or it can be cultivated with awareness. Imagine walking a tightrope. Balance and awareness, one feeds the other, step by step.

Balance demonstrates a harmonious arrangement or proportion, the perfect set up for Beauty. From the dictionary:

-A stable state characterized by cancellation of all forces by equal opposing forces.

This made me think of times when I’ve conjured opposing forces of my own in very simple ways to regain balance, as in needing something and just asking for it. Or extreme self care in times of stress. I’ve created pockets of silence for myself when surrounded by endless chatter. Connection to remedy detachment. Physically moving to release pent up mental energy.

I guess we’re all capable of self leveling. You just need to check if the bubble is in the center of the line once in a while.

Another lovely phrase from the dictionary:

Emotional Equilibrium.

Sounds like a calm, placid body of water I’d love to dive into. Some kind of clear, bright lake would be wonderful to go to when balance is needed. I can see it plainly labeled on my own map of personal sanity.

Patience is giving all the space and time and understanding that’s needed. I can’t imagine patience coming from a place with no love in it. Patience is about simply being here. Not just for ourselves, but for others as well. Having it is a profound and lovely gift.

I thought to write about patience as an act of Beauty because I wanted to have more of it for myself, my work. The slow, real time nature of sewing, painting, making things by hand, it’s a human sized pace that goes breath by breath and no faster. It doesn’t always compare too well with the half a blink speed of the digital realm where we spend a lot of time these days. You can get used to the feeling that any kind of completion can come with a few clicks.

From the dictionary:
-The capacity of calm endurance.
-Tolerant understanding.
I love all these words strung together in the same space. It reads like a recipe for saving the world. This is one of the reasons why we urgently need more Beauty in the world.