What’s your superpower?

Have you claimed it?

What is one thing you do that sets you apart from everyone else? What do your loved ones say about you when they’re bragging? What do your friends envy about you?

Do you have a certain quality that you effortlessly embody or a way of looking at the world that only you seem to know about? Something you’ve been cultivating within yourself that can’t always be named. Maybe it doesn’t matter whether anyone else notices or knows about it because it’s just for you. It just is you. Can you give it a name? How would you describe it?

I recently recognized and claimed a new superpower for myself, and it’s this: I see the beauty in everything. And I can help other people see it, too.

This was something I hadn’t named before. But I realized that all my life I have longed for this to be true about me. I grew up identifying as an artist. And of course, part of being an artist means seeing beauty everywhere. Even in the dark and dirty places.

The tricky part is that there are thousands of people out there who see the beauty in everything. I know because those are the people who inspire me. The ones I strive to be like. 

I’m working on telling my story. I’m working on putting myself out there, being vulnerable. Most people are doing something like this, working on creating themselves and figuring out what sets them apart from others, what makes them unique.

Do you feel unique?

(You are.)

Even though I know that I have been created as an individual, my experiences and my perception and my gifts are all mine alone, when it comes to defining my individuality, or describing how I’m different from other people to other people, I have trouble.

What makes my ability to see beauty unique?

What makes your ability unique?

As I consider this question, I pay closer attention to my attitudes and behaviors. I notice when I am and am not seeing and appreciating beauty in the world around me. I realize that this, as well as some of my other attributes and abilities, comes fairly easily to me. So easily, in fact, that I had never really given this ability much thought before. The world is just beautiful. 

I find myself looking to how other people respond to the same stimuli as me. I can’t know anyone’s innermost thoughts, of course, but I can track behaviors, words, tone of voice, body language. 

I’ve been noticing how difficult it seems to be for some people to appreciate the things they have in their lives or the people surrounding them. To people like this, what I do is difficult, complex, a daily struggle. 

Sometimes things are objectively beautiful. Sometimes you’re in an environment that promotes the appreciation of beauty. For example, while sight-seeing, attending a performance or art show, walking on a beach at sunrise or sunset, listening to your favorite song with nothing else pulling your focus.

Other times are not so lovely. Like when your car gets a flat tire and you’re late for an appointment. When you get that diagnosis. Or when your checking account is overdrawn. When your kid makes that sound in the middle of the night that shoots you from your bed without thinking. When you slip in an icy parking lot and can hardly move your body the next day. When you find out someone lied to you. I’m sure you can think of more.

I’ve had my share of heartache, frustration, anxiety and disappointment. In fact, a couple of months ago, I found myself on a vacation away from my family, spiraling into the vortex of worry about some of the events unfolding at home without me. And during moments like that, it’s a little bit trickier to see the beauty. Even for me. But I did. I do. It’s a practice.

Even in the darkness and shadows, the sadness, stress, anxiety, grief or frustration, there is something beautiful. And at times, these moments can be even richer than the sunsets and celebrations for their ability to overcome the body, heart and mind so completely. What makes it beautiful is our ability to bear such things. What makes it beautiful is how fully we must love in order to be broken so completely. What makes it beautiful is that the pain never lingers in the same form for long. What makes it beautiful are the lessons we learn about who we are and how we expand our hearts. What makes it beautiful is how we remain free to choose. 

Light means nothing without shadow. Happiness is impossible to define without sadness. Eternity is made of now moments. Silence has no power without sound. Order is impossible without the contrasting chaos. It’s a beautiful balance. It’s both. It’s and.

That’s where the beauty is for me, in the and. In the nuance. The subtle details of each separate moment and the tapestry of each one woven together with the rest into magnificence. 

Can you also see the beauty in everything? Have you ever considered this as one of your superpowers? If not this, what does come easily to you? What is something that you do without thought that other people find fascinating?

Name it. Notice it. Explore how it shows up and what it can do for someone else. This is your gift. And it’s one of the many things about you that makes you entirely unique.

To work with me, let’s talk.