Look Up
I had only enough time to do the two-mile loop in my neighborhood, the most pedestrian of pedestrian experiences. It was mid-afternoon, and warm. My feet were dragging. And then I thought to look up.
The sky was shockingly blue, so much bluer than the sky you see in this photo, and the foliage so much greener. The orange tree, which I notice turns earlier than the others every year, added contrast.
I caught my breath at the loveliness of it all. What palettes lie hidden in even the most familiar landscape? I could have been staring at the luminous hues of an Impressionist garden or the weathered face of a Dutch master.
It’s not like I don’t look up when I walk. But this time, it was a revelation. It was as if I hadn’t seen the sky before or the trees framing it.
It was just an ordinary walk, but I looked up, and that made all the difference.
4 thoughts on “Look Up”
So much beauty to enjoy if we just take the time to pay attention! I have found the same ‘oh, wow’ in the cities. London is a prime example. On the street level you see Costa Coffee and Pret, but look up and be wowed by 18th century architecture. Thanks for the reminder.
When I wrote this I was thinking of looking up at the sky, but as you point out, “looking up” works just as well with buildings. In so many cases what we see at street level is no match for what’s above.
The title resonates with double entendre. The contrast between the pedestrian and the heavenly worked well. So many intriguing ideas of a universal nature, like the ordinary and the unexpected and how a little thing can make all the difference in ones perspective. Deep ideas packed in a few words and LOVELY writing.
Thank you! I do believe a little thing can make all the difference. And a mood can be shifted in one glance.