Reflecting the Light

photo by Marina Vitale Unsplash

12/18/25

Turn your gaze in another direction,

and the whole world turns—

possibly into something exceptional,

or perhaps something unbearable.

I look at a friend and experience worlds upon worlds.

My experience of them is uniquely my own,

shaped by the lens I’m looking through in that moment.

Am I seeing their beauty,

or their perceived weaknesses and the differences between us?

Is my vision rose-colored,clear,or muddy?

What I am looking at is the same at its core essence,

for we are all made of the same “stuff.”

It is life breathing us—

this ineffable, untamed, unpredictable force of creation.

With the power of attention,

I can choose how I see.

By shifting my gaze, I can lighten up.

As I begin to see another in their true nature—

their inherent wholeness and quiet perfection—I begin to see light.

What a beautiful gift we could offer one another during the holidays. As Irish novelist Margaret Wolfe Hungerford reminds us, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I wonder what it might be like to practice perceiving beauty more often—especially when it doesn’t come easily.

I’m reminded of this Navajo prayer:

"In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again.

Perhaps, as we move through this season, we can remember that what we see is not just a reflection of the world—but a reflection of the light we are willing to bring to it.