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Are You Searching for Beauty in the NOW?

Beauty in the NOW

Beauty in the NOW

I’ve had a sad few days.

After this post, you know some of the reasons why. There are others, but they don’t matter.

We all get a little blue from time to time, so we all know what it is about, don’t we?

But over the past years of occasional bouts of feeling blue, I’ve realized one thing. It is never a loss or a problem that causes my sadness.

It is my attitude towards it.

If I look at my sadness, accept it, watch it, it reduces. I see that I can either do something about the problem, or accept that I can only do something about my attitude towards the problem.

As I watch the sad part of me, I also see that the happy part of me, the calm blue lake within, hasn’t gone anywhere.

It is up to me, to choose to be in the NOW, be mindful of what blessings I have at present, and focus on those.

I took the photographs of these orchids two weeks ago, and saw them on my phone just now– and they made me smile.

In this moment, now, watching the orchids as I type, the sad part of me has receded.

It is in this spirit that I also write about the Sunflowers for Tina Blogfest , which we at the A to Z Challenge have organized.

Sunflowers for Tina

Sunflowers for TinaSunflowers for Tina Blogfest we at the A to Z Challenge have organized.

This 8th of September we hope to cover as big a part of the internet as possible with Sunflowers, the favorite flower of our dear Tina who we lost all too soon.

As we mourn her loss, we also celebrate who she was: a bright, compassionate, large-hearted personality.

If you knew Tina through her blog, I encourage you to take part, by signing up here.

If you didn’t know Tina– celebrate this Blogfest as a day of choosing to be joyful– a choice Tina Downey made, despite all her suffering, every day of her life.

——

Would you join us in celebrating Tina with the Sunflowers Blogfest? In your life, are you searching for beauty in the NOW?

 

 

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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54 Comments

  • Riana.Autumn says:

    Love the message! Great attitude!

  • rondita says:

    “It is up to me, to choose to be in the NOW, be mindful of what blessings I have at present, and focus on those.” This is just what I needed to hear!!! Thanks! 🙂

  • Dave says:

    Touching post. Again.

    I have come to believe that it is always our attitude that defines the feeling. Somebody cannot insult you if you don’t accept it as an insult. Something cannot hurt you if you choose to view it as something other than pain. Sadness can transform into something more rewarding if we step back and refocus. And hate dissipates if we reflect the hater’s hate with love.

    Always harder than they sound, but so worth the effort.

    eHugs to you. 🙂

  • ccyager says:

    Wise words. We have control over the way we think and feel, but not how others think or feel. But I think it’s important to honor sadness, to feel it, to know it, to understand it, before moving on.

  • You have been nominated for One Lovely Blog Award. I hope you don’t mind. Please do not feel pressured to participate. I just want to promote a few blogs that I feel others would adore as much as I do.

  • Celebrating joy… Awesome post Damyanti

  • prernanew says:

    Hi @damyantig ..an amazing post i came across.Keep up the good work cuz i can smell a writer on its way …:)

  • redridding48 says:

    Sweet blog. I feel this way at points in my life, but because I have become aware of the sadness creeping in its has become easier for me to move through it to my happy place 🙂

  • Elyse Bailey says:

    This is amazing!

  • akrati says:

    Sorry for Tina..but yes this is something great that can be done to her 🙂

  • Thanks for sharing the pictures of the orchids. They are pretty. A lot of people are missing Tina. She was a big part of the blogging community. When you see the sunflowers, think of her and smile.

  • Anita says:

    Sorry about Tina. Great tribute… she’d love this initiative…

  • Sorry to know about Tina..a great initiative taken by you…

  • respect for the initiative taken

  • It’s usually our attitude that makes the difference. We can control it or surrender to it.

  • “It is never a loss or a problem that causes my sadness.
    It is my attitude towards it. It is up to me,
    To choose to be in the NOW, be mindful of what blessings I have at present, and focus on those.” rightly said Damyanti.
    Sorry to hear about Tina.We appreciate your good work and initiative Damyanti.

  • writenote1 says:

    Like you, I find looking at the small things helps me when I feel like my sadness/neagtivity/issues are too big. I’ve been walking in the bush and taking photos of wildflowers. They never fail to bring a smile to my face.

    I didn’t know Tina, but the sunflower idea is lovely.

  • kikyrose says:

    nice. thanks 🙂

  • pareshkale says:

    Nice thought….

  • Thanks for the reminder, and best wishes.

  • atempleton says:

    Happy you have regained your equilibrium–life can knock us around quite a bit. Take care.

  • hya21 says:

    I didn’t know Tina, so I will do as you suggest.

    • Damyanti says:

      Absolutely. Celebrate 8th September on your blog as a day of finding joy. Any sort of sunflower would do– I’m sure Tina’s I’ll-laugh-at- suffering spirit would live on through them.

  • Birgit says:

    Sadness can get in the way and it has all to do with our attitude. Sometimes it is OK to be distressed for a bit. The good news is that we can see the beauty in the every days things like a flower. I believe Tina, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting in blogland, would love laughter, happiness and joy. Sunflowers expressed the best for her and honouring her shows how great people are. Enjoy the moments and smile:)

  • In the despair of loss, it’s wonderful to see the struggle for joy continues. Thank you for sharing this.

  • Dan Antion says:

    I spent some time today taking pictures in a large field of sunflowers. I hope one of those pictures will suffice as an appropriate honor. I can’t think of anything more beautiful. Thanks for coming up with a creative way that we can honor someone so special.

  • pilesofpages says:

    It sounds like the technique you are talking about (accepting and observing your emotions) is very similar to Minfulness. It’s a highly regarded technique for dealing with sadness, but so hard to master! You must really be at one with yourself. I hope I can manage that too one day. Our attitudes towards our emotions are so important.

  • radhikaspsn says:

    This is lovely and so inspirational.

  • Susan Scott says:

    Sadness is the flip side of joy … and our sadnesses are to be honoured. It’s as real as joy which can be found in the beauty that surrounds us. Yes, I’ll be joining in the sunflower blog fest for Tina. I love what Sammy says – that every time we see a sunflower we’ll think of Tina. And yes, I try to live in the now and be mindful of it.
    Thank you Damyanti.

  • Peter Nena says:

    I have joined you in celebrating Tina with Sunflowers. And I do look for beauty in the NOW. Beauty, I think, is indeed in the present. I do not know what tomorrow has in store for me. But yesterday is gone and I cannot bring it back to rectify the things that went wrong with it. So I have today only. When I am blue, I try to remember that it is only temporary and I must not share it around like a smile. And I must carry it forward to the next day. Sometimes it’s hard, but I try.

    • Damyanti says:

      Peter, I’m sorry you have your blue days. I hope you find it easier, as the days go by, to find your way back to joy.

      I find that practicing breathing and ‘being in the moment’ every day, makes joy last longer in my life.

  • I am not sure how I will be able to get a sunflower (can’t explain why here, but I will try). Will post the tribute link in my blog later for others to know and maybe take part…

  • Very true – Attitude towards a problem affects us greatly. I am learning to see the bright sides of things daily now.
    Condolences to Tina’s friends and family. Reading through Tina’s blog, is a much needed reminder.
    Thanks for sharing.

  • lumar1298 says:

    So sorry to hear about Tina’s lost… Great post…

  • Thank you Damyanti for the orchids. ‘Now’ is the moment, I am trying fullest to be in. Your post arrived at the right time.

  • indernik says:

    SO true. We are much powerful than sadness. We forget that and give sadness power to control our emotions.

  • Sammy D. says:

    Damyanti, I have been thinking a lot about Tina’s family, and hoping they have been remembering the many ways Tina shared their lives. She will continue to be part of our “now” because I’ll never again see a sunflower without thinking of her. We will have a truly joyful celebration on September 8th, and will continue to lift each other’s spirits through the power of our thoughts, prayers and blogs.

    Your orchids are lovely. I keep such photos on my i-phone for that very reason. Enjoy this week and remember how many of us cherish you and your thoughtful posts.

    • Damyanti says:

      Sammy– yes, I thought of this the other day– for the last few years, sunflowers (on television, we don’t have many in Singapore) have reminded me of Tina. When I said that to her once, she laughed– you must visit me when the sunflowers bloom, and then you won’t forget me, ever. I never made it, but I’ll make sure I carry forward her memory for as long as I’m around.

      My posts are for you, for my readers, who make this blog. They’re just an excuse to get everybody chatting. I’m not so good at it myself.

      Thank you for your kind words, Sammy. I cherish them, too.

  • It’s a very lovely post Damyanti, and like your orchids. I also try my best to look for beauty in the NOW and block all the negativity that sometimes surround me. It’s not easy, but it’s the best way. Sometimes the places where beauty appears is surprising too.

    • Damyanti says:

      Michelle, Those orchids were awesome. They’d won awards at a show— I couldn’t take my eyes off the dancing blooms. I don’t think blocking negativity works for me. I look at it, face it, without judging it. I become aware of my breath, and my body and my surroundings, and very often, the negativity vanishes, and is replaced with joy.