Looking for Beauty

Today on my morning walk, I was listening to a TED Talk listed under the broad category of Beauty that centered on happiness and how humans related to this particular feeling.  As TED products go, this one was middle of the road for me in terms of inspiration, but the speaker did address an interesting result from a study associated with happiness in relationships. Apparently, one of the conclusions of the study was that it took five positive comments for every one negative comment for people involved in a relationship to characterize that relationship as happy. The speaker's thesis was that this skewed result is due to the fact that we, as humans, are hypersensitive to negative input as a survival mechanism. This survival technique was really very useful out on the plains 10,000 years ago, but it is less valuable now when physical survival is not nearly the front and center concern that it once represented.

Later during the walk, I was talking to Rory, and he suggested that he'd awakened and was a bit down in the dumps. We talked about that for awhile, and eventually, he got around to asking me one of his standard questions in the wee hours before twilight. "What are you looking forward to at work today?"

I've been doing the same job for about two years now, and the bulk of my actions are mostly associated with keeping bad things from happening. It's important work, but if I'm honest, it's not very inspiring work.  It is the day to day attention to detail that I'm pretty good at executing.  It'a also a far cry from what I'd characterize as being an exploration, experiment, or adventure. I've known periods where all of my existence seemed like one, two, or even all three of those things. Those periods were both exhilarating and intensely rewarding. Working the problems using my wits, knowledge, and sometimes brawn (such that it is) and dexterity against unknown odds in the face of uncertainty is what I always imagined I was training to do when I was growing up.

Alas, things aren't always high adventure, but right now the truth of the matter is that I'm not going out of my way to look forward to much of anything at work. The things I look forward to facing are the walks, the learning through reading and listening to smart people, jogging, creating something new, experimenting in the kitchen, etc. My work now facilitates my ability to do the things that I look forward to doing.  I do look forward to getting out on a ship underway for trials and any opportunity to travel, but that's about it as far as work is concerned.

In response to Rory's question, I asked him what sort of beauty he expected to encounter today. He said, "Good question. I don't think I've ever put that much thought into that before. I'll have to think about it."

Moonset on the Anacostia

Since I started walking, I think about encountering and appreciating beauty on a regular basis now. The recognition of beauty started slowly at first over a year ago, but I've found that once I started observing it all around me, it was almost impossible for me to not approach the observation and appreciation in a deliberate manner.  I find that unlike the speaker suggested in the TED Talk, I'm less sensitive to negative situations, and I'm more attuned to positive circumstances. Looking for beauty has changed the way I view the world and my life is much better for the happy accident that evolved into a deliberate seeking of the goodness that flows all around us.

Sunrise over the Anacostia

Today I saw beauty in the moonset and sunrise over the Anacostia River. I also saw beauty in the architecture, air, dogs, fellow humans, and some pretty sweet cars in between these two events during the course of my walk.

I even recognized beauty in the chuckle brought on by a joke, and the happiness shining from the face of a newly married bride and groom as I ground out the pedestrian (no pun intended) task of oiling the gears of the bureaucracy to make sure they kept grinding along.

I don't know what I'll encounter tomorrow, but I am looking forward to and seeking the beauty.

This Is Where the Magic Happens

During political season, or in other words anytime there is national election in progress, it is difficult to rationalize the picture of Washington, DC that is being painted in the press with the Washington, DC where I spend most of my waking hours and earn my keep. I didn't really understand civics until I came to work in this city, and the organization that I work for has a culture of questioning the judgement or at least being highly skeptical of the motivations of folks that also earn their living in this town.

This is Where the Magic Happens - Capitol Building - Washington, DC

I know it's not necessarily very popular right now, but I've really grown to love this city. I've also grown to appreciate the robust nature of the system of government that has been in place, largely unchanged, over the last 250 years. We're a young country yet, but we're beginning to get a little history. I've come to believe in the strength of the representative system and the wisdom of how that system uses the loves and fears, the logic and emotions of the American to steadily, but not necessarily smoothly, make progress.

Those ideals are easy to forget in the rhetoric of the campaign system, but when I get out in the open air and away from the two dimensional analogies that come across the flat screens of technology, I'm reminded of the enduring principles that have guided us to this point so far.

There are things to be learned, and philosophies that still need more exploration and credence, but from a Western industrial perspective the way this place is run has been very good to me.

I believe that we're standing on the edge of an epoch where the first two or three layers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs are achievable on a global scale, and the challenges we face are coming to terms with this stunning technological achievement. If we can come to terms with this new(ish) reality, we can make progress on the next levels of respect and self actualization as individuals. 

When I think of what we have in terms of the the responsibility (as well as the opportunity) that they confer on us, I sense a daunting challenge ahead. A friend of mine remarked that he wished the current crop of political candidates would lay out a vision for the future that looks forward, and instead, he senses that we're falling backward into fear. I don't think he's wrong, and I don't really know how to fix things. I do believe he is vocalizing a great need that is lying dormant, waiting for someone to lead the way to that better vision.

I have another friend that believes the dangers are too great, and that only through a rebirth will we be able to realize those aspirational goals. I fall on the optimistic side of thing, and think we stand on the brink of a great opportunity that carries great responsibility.

US Capitol Building on a Beautiful Spring Afternoon

For now, I'll walk and record my observations, hopes and dreams here.  The time for action is drawing close, and I hope I'm ready for it no matter what form that it takes. I'll look forward to tomorrow and offer help where I find a need.

Spring Has Arrived...With Some Snow

Well, spring has arrived on the east coast of the United States.  I'm happy to report that today represents the longest single day of walking since I injured my foot with just under eight miles completed on the exercise circuit. I could have done without the snow.

Gray Skies Over Spa Creek on the First Day of Spring

My whine about the snow notwithstanding, today was a pretty good day on the walking front. In addition to the continuation of recovery from injury, Rory and I may have identified our first disciple on this pilgrimage. He's and acquaintance of mine that shares a penchant for rash decision making, and after a particularly frustrating day at work with one of the better know non-profits he declared to his boss that he was bound and determined to walk across the United States as an awareness and fundraising campaign.

He later admitted that it was an act of escapism really, but that didn't sound as good when spoken at a high volume in his senior's office. This initial decision sounds eerily familiar the the emoting that landed me in the current predicament, so I suggested that he start training. Like my initial assumptions, he has what is probably an overly high opinion of the number of miles per day and how many days in a row he can put those miles down on the trail. 

I've found there's really only one cure for this sort of thing. The cure is to start to walk. You'll either convince yourself that you're crazy, or you'll find what you've been looking to see for a long time. For me it was the latter. 

Even though he's probably as crazy as Rory and me, it feels good to have a potential partner. With only one, things are lonely. With a partner, things are tolerable. Three...now, three is a coalition, and who knows what will happen when a coalition's ideas begin to acquire a tangible form. We'll see tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.