Beauty, (Iris) Murdoch argues, gave us an opportunity for an “unselfing.” She writes:
I am looking out my window in an anxious and resentful state of mind, oblivious of my surroundings, brooding perhaps on some damage done to my prestige. Then suddenly I observe a hovering kestrel. In a moment everything is altered. The brooding self with its hurt vanity has disappeared. There is nothing now but kestrel. And when I return to thinking of the other matter it seems less important.
— Chloé Cooper Jones, Easy Beauty: A Memoir (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, April 5, 2022)
Notes:
- Kestrel. Cardinal. Same. Shot taken of Red Cardinal overhead this morning @ 8 am in backyard.
- Photos from Daybreak walk this morning here.
Live & Learn 
“Unselfing” – I like it.
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Yes!
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beautiful
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The truth !
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Yes!
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Beautiful … “There is nothing now but kestrel. And when I return to thinking of the other matter it seems less important.” — Chloé Cooper Jones, Easy Beauty: A Memoir (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, April 5, 2022).
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So healing to look out beyond the little self. This morning, for me, it was the site of a bunny in my yard…so sweet…before the squirrels began frolicking around.
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Ahhhh, nothing like a bunny to soften up the tension…
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What a shot!
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Thank you Laila!
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Yeah, sometimes we just need to get over ourselves. Happens to me all the time when I see some little creature in trouble out in my yard, or when I see rabbit fur and bird feathers that are no longer attached. The focus shifts from me, me, me – to them.
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So true Anneli!
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Exquisite photos this morn, all! Again! Writing (or photographing!) easily unselfs one, too. I think that’s why we love these and all the arts. Meditating, too. (And maybe running — I’ll never know, lol!)
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Thank you! Never too late to start running!
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🤔.. um.. lol!!
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