When the father in the following video received a rejection letter from an academic journal, he walked in his house feeling, well, rejected. For those of you unfamiliar with the feeling of receiving a rejection letter in your profession, you can liken the experience to sending a, "Will you go with me? Yes, No, or Maybe" letter to the love of your life and he/she sending the letter back with a giant red X in the "No" box. Not fun.

However, on this day, as the father walked into his house feeling rejected, he tore the letter in front of his child. In the face of rejection, he was reminded of the things that really matter in the world.

Ways to See Beautiful:

• Children's inability to take this world so seriously.
• Children's ability to find beauty and laughter in paper being torn.
• Readjusting our focus to the truly beautiful things in life.

Interesting Finding: Some scholars claim children laugh an average of 300 times per day, while adults laugh an average of 30 times per day. Perhaps we can channel our inner child and giggle as often as possible-even rejection can be beautiful.

Uh-oh,

Welcome to the Inagural See Beautiful Pop Quiz! Today, you have one question to answer. Good luck.


1. Which of the following choices exemplifies seeing beautiful?

A. You glance at yourself in the mirror and cringe at the reflection staring back at you.
B. You dislike everything you see in your closet, throwing many of your wardrobe choices to the floor after sporting them unhappily in front of your full length mirror.
C. You feel like everyone is judging you and so you go ahead and order the super-sized fries.
D. You make it a point to consciously and consistently recognize the beauty you inherently possess and you carry yourself with that understanding throughout the day, searching for it in others as well.
If you picked "D" you're right. If A, B, or C resonated with you, you're not alone; however, we offer you the opportunity to reread all four choices above to think about which is more fun. Which choice (and it's a choice) offers more happiness? Which choice makes being around others more enjoyable? Which choice makes you feel better? For most of us, the answer is D, again. You know the right answer and this wasn't a lesson taught in school. You know the right answer because it's already inside of you. You passed the pop quiz, it's time you allowed yourself to apply it to your life.

Congratulations, oh-smart-and-beautiful-one!

Here we some of the first words that others shared when viewing the pictures:

• Old
• Rickety
• Unsafe
• Broken
• Dangerous
• Rusty
• Unkempt
• Trash
• Eye-sore
• Uninhabitable
• In need of repair
• Worthless

All these words were generated from staring at the outside of the house, no one peeked in. If they had looked inside the house they would have found a cozy nest, two adult blue jays, and their four babies. A happy family in a happy home. What the outside of their home looked like didn't phase them in their choice of making a comfortable place on the inside. They didn't need landscapers or request a new roof. They didn't require a paint job or overflowing sun-loving plants in planters.
Life lessons from a rickety old bird house: It's the ages-old saying, "It's what's on the inside that counts." If we'd judged the birdhouse from the outside, it might appear "worthless" or "broken". From the inside, it's life-giving and inspiring. What do we look at in life like the birdhouse? Do we notice and critique the outside? Do we do this with ourselves? Or, do we take the extra step and peek inside, finding countless ways to see beautiful.

Let's go on a quick virtual field trip, that also includes time travel (so, happy Monday to you)...
Scene Setting: It's 2002, in a try-to-be-clean-but-can-never-stay-ahead-of-the-dry-playdough-and-finger-paint-on-walls pre-school classroom. Twenty-one three and four-year-olds are sitting in a circle (a shape they know), singing the "Good Morning" song. 

The second-year teacher is beaming with pride at the successful sitting and coordinated singing of all twenty-one students at 7:45 a.m. She finishes the song, off harmony, with the students, because in her mind, "Who are we kidding, we're all off harmony!"

Teacher (pointing to the words, "Today is Monday" written in perfect "teacher script"): Good Morning! I can't wait to hear all about the wonderful things you did over the weekend, but before we do, let's see if we know which day of the week today is.

Teacher, looking expectantly and happily around her morning circle. Children, looking at teacher, each other, the fish they've dubbed "Seven" for no apparent reason, the blocks, the carpet. No response.

Teacher (in energetic expression): Okay, let's see what is written on the board. Oh, this says, 'Today is Monday.'

While teacher's back is turned to the board she hears a gasp that sounds like sheer jubilation. By the time she's turned around, one of her most brilliant (though they're all brilliant) students has jumped into the middle of the circle.

Child (trying frantically to rip her pants off): OH! OH! OH! TEACHER!!!!!! MY UNDERWEAR SAYS MONDAY!!!!

At this point, child has pants down revealing that indeed, her underwear does have the word "Monday" sewn into them, the teacher is frantically leaping across other three-year-old heads to get to the child mid-circle.

Teacher (thinking): Oh, dear. Oh, dear. OH DEAR! I'm going to lose my job! There's a child smack dab in the middle of my morning circle with her pants around her ankles!!!!

Teacher (still trying to get to student...crawling on the floor now): You are exactly right! Now, I need you to pull your pants up.

Child (looking confused): But...but...I matched it. They are the same.

At this point child has pulled her pants up in a defeated-looking manner. Simultaneously the teachers' heart begins to beat again. 

Teacher: I am so proud of you! That was excellent noticing and thinking! Why don't you go sit back down with your friends and we'll see what else we can learn today.

Teacher thinking: Is 7:45 a.m. too early to have a glass of wine?
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We here at See Beautiful can't help but look at the word "Monday" now with a chuckle. If you thought today was going to be your typical ole Monday, you don't know who might be waiting around the corner to catch you off guard.

For this teacher, the "Monday" experience is still the best text-to-text connection she's seen a child (or adult) make in her ten years of teaching.

For you, what "Monday" experience could you have to connect your mind to seeing beautiful? It's unlikely that it's matching your underwear to the day of the week, but that example let's you know there's laughter lurking in the most unlikely places. If we take a moment to look for beauty in ourselves or the world, we often find it...or it finds us.

Happy seeing beautiful!
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Also be sure to check us out on our See Beautiful™ website for ways to join the movement!