A lot of people would say that this:

Is more beautiful than this:

But I think they’re missing out.

Yes, it’s easier to appreciate the beauty of things like sunsets and oceans, but we’re often quick to overlook the beauty in everyday things.

Everything is beautiful.

Our perception of beauty is subjective and influenced by our minds. Thoughts and judgments based on our past experiences and personal biases. We label something as “beautiful” if it meets our more or less arbitrary standards for what’s attractive—standards we often inherited from the people we grew up around, not cultivated intentionally ourselves.

But even the most mundane things are amazing! That sewage pipe—look at the intricate patterns and textures. The stillness of the concrete. How many people it took to build that massive system, underground, across the entire country. And that we have eyes to see it, and consciousness to experience it. It’s all incredible. Why dismiss it?

If we let the mind be still for a second—if we stop labelling everything (or even just recognise that it’s labelling everything)—we start to see the world in a new light, discovering the intricacies and details that make everything unique. It’s liberating to find beauty in unexpected places and to challenge our preconceptions and biases.

It’s so much more fulfilling to take that step back and appreciate. There’s beauty everywhere if we just let ourselves be present to it.