Beauty - 7DayPositivityChallenge Day 5

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Meaning the one "seeing" is the one recognising what is seen as being beautiful. We have our own ideas, and ideals of beauty. Be it in how our home is arranged, how we dress, how we write, how we cook, and in the things we collect. Sometimes we extend this ideal to personalities, but more often than not, we see beauty at face value.

We are hardwired for positive reinforcement in all things beautiful. Yet, it seems we are quite capable of becoming blind towards the beauty that exists on the world, as the sad thing is, although we gravitate towards beauty, our concept of beauty can be so easily conditioned. How magazines make only models and celebreties as the standard for beauty. Or how luxurious homes, jewelry and cars are displayed as a standard for beauty.

I never quite bought into advertisements, not for the most part. My ideals of beauty was always centered around nature. A street lined with trees was enough to make me smile for the day.

So today I decided to highlight the beauty that surrounds me every single day. I sometimes forget to fully appreciate it, but for the most part I do take a few seconds to notice it everyday. Here's a few small sections of our garden that puts a smile on my face everyday.

This purple water Lilly. Not only does it look beautiful, it smells heavenly. My wish everytime I take a whiff is that someone would make a perfume that smells like this!

There quite a few flowers that bloom everyday, and this particular part of the garden is like a party house. Always something going on here.

It's mangoe season, and I see the beauties getting ready to offer up sweet juicy goodness.

We no longer need to buy peppercorns from the store. We just wait for them to ripen, dry it, and crush it before spicing up a dish.

But, above all this, I have my mother to thank, as this garden is the result of her loving work over the last 13 years. In fact growing up, we always had a mini rainforest around us. My mother's love for plants is just....well her greatest passion and joy. Plus she has green thumbs. Something my brother inherited.

Me? I have learnt to just enjoy the beauty as I step out to the garden everyday. On occasion, I do help with the pruning, weeding and cleaning up. If I do need to get in and do some serious planting, it is always under the expert guidance of the great garden keeper.

The beauty of a culture of living together as an extended family (till we decide to move away for a good reason, like work, or space for a growing family) is that we can enjoy so much more. With members of the family around to take care of some chores, it is less of a burden. As the saying goes, many hands make for light work. So there's more time to enjoy life. In our case, it is this beautiful garden. Despite our incessant complaints or making fun of how her garden has now overflowed onto government property, the truth is everybody in the neighbourhood loves the garden. It gives both humans and animals a refuge for shade and shelter on a hot day - around here that's everyday.

Much to our irritation, we find remnants of their lunch bags and boxes around the plants. Sometimes it becomes a little too accessible to people when, we find our leaves or fruits missing. We certainly don't mind sharing, just would appreciate it if they gave us the joy of giving, rather than taking matters into their own extra long hands.

Nevertheless, I always love getting in and out my car everyday, as it is in the midst of a beautiful ecosystem of plants, trees, flowers, fruits, birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies and squirrels. Always a fun start and end of a drive!

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All pics are mine, taken on my smartphone.

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The Rules:

The 'rules' are fairly simple, for this Steemit challenge, which I do hope transcends into our everyday life - in finding more positivity in the world.

1. Write a post about something you have to be positive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the opportunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)
2. Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated.
   From @kchitrah: Or do your best with 7 such posts spaced close together - I know that's what I'll be doing
3. Mention three people who should do this on each day.
4. Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post
   (Tip: You need to put the # in front of 7daypositivitychallenge or it will not let you use the tag.)
5. Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible).

Today, I'm tagging: @sams-world, @brighttux, @annekins

Though the choice always remains in the hands of those nominated to take this up, I hope that this might be an inspiration to find more beauty, love and opportunity to express gratitude everyday. As it is a nice way to move through a week, or more (should we take a couple days in between the posts).

Check out this challenge by @conradt here