Finding Beauty Within: A Beach Meditation Experience

Beach Meditation

I went to the beach today.
While searching for glass,
I asked God some questions
and tried to listen.

“What do I need to hear?”
I asked.
“That you are beautiful,”
He said.

“Really?”
“Yes,”
came the quick, simple reply.

“What else do I need to hear?”
“That you must believe that you are.”

“How do I believe?”
I asked.

He answered,
“You find beauty in everything —
in broken glass,
in battered driftwood,
in the world around you.
You see the best in everything,
and everyone.
Use the same eyes for yourself.
Accept the beauty in you
the way you accept it in others.”

I said,
“I don’t see beauty in me.
I see broken.
I am like that tree. It is uprooted and has fallen from the cliff. It is battered each day by the rising tide. I keep losing more of myself. I am scattered across the sand.”

“Will I find love?”
I asked.

“Yes,”
He said.

“How can you be sure?”

“One day, someone will see the beauty in you
that I see.
But it saddens me —
you are drawn to those
who are not yet beautiful.
You give them your beauty,
hoping to fix them.
Be patient.
Love yourself first.
When you do,
it will no longer matter
who sees you,
for you will have already seen yourself.”

“What else do I need to hear?”

“I wish you had more good things to say.
It hurts me,
hearing your sadness,
your loneliness.
I see the good in you —
all the beauty you cannot yet see.”

“So keep living.
Keep looking for beauty in the world.
And then,
turn that seeing inward”.

“The beauty sees you
because you see beauty.“

“You are beautiful”.

“Other eyes may miss it,
but yours will always find it.
You will notice it in broken glass.
You will spot it in battered trees.
You will see it in the rising, endless tide.

And in you.”