YOU ARE FREE TO LIVE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

Here’s something to remember for this week:

You are free to live a beautiful life, right here. 

And for this beautiful life, this is important: you must remain open to the many ways that life can be beautiful.

We learn this by looking at the daily life of various nocturnal animals. In contrast to many other creatures, they are known for being most active at night. 

Now, we may not be able to understand what the world is like to nocturnal animals such as owls, beavers, or bats, but we can know this: they move through the world differently than the animals that are most active during the daylight. And yet, they are still able to live the lives they were meant to live. They are still able to perform their daily tasks and be active in their communities, even in the darkness.

Isn't it beautiful that no matter the time of day or the time of year, animals find their way to live as they were meant to?

This is true for us as well.

Even though we may see others who are active in the spotlight or living some kind of version of a beautiful life that we don't have, that doesn't mean that our lives cannot be beautiful. The owl isn't concerned with comparing their existence to the thoroughbred galloping through a golden field. The owl lives on in the way they were meant to, as does the thoroughbred, and there is room in the world for both.

We may not see the nocturnal animals out and about in the spotlight of the sun but that doesn't mean that their lives are any less important. They are just as much a part of the ecosystem as any hummingbird or butterfly that catches our attention in the middle of the day. In their own way, they are beautiful all the same.

Remember this when you feel that your life can't be beautiful because you're in the shadows, or because it's winter, or because others don't "ooh" and "ah" at you what you’re doing like they might do for someone else. Perhaps, what you find beautiful in this season is going to be different than what others are observing and that's okay. 

Let yourself be inspired by the nocturnal creatures among us and embrace that part of you that looks for Light when others have gone to sleep or have stopped paying attention. Keep seeking and finding beauty in unexpected places. This is what helps you live a beautiful life right here and practice gratitude for what’s to come.

Word of the day: Unexpected (adj) "something that takes you by surprise" (Vocabularly.com)
Affirmation: "I am able to find beauty where others might not notice it."
Journal Prompt: "Write about a time in your life when you felt that your way of experiencing beauty was different than others around you.

More in this week's series called "Live A Beautiful Life, Right Now", only with a subscription in the Storyteller App.

Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols
@thestorytellerco
@morganharpernichols