A recent question on Linkedin was: What
methods do you use to get out of a funk? What a great word and also great
question! Of course there are many ways to get out of a funk – advanced
techniques about this or that which enable us to change our ‘state’.
I’d like to focus on the everyday. As the Psalmist
David said, This one thing I have desired: to see the beauty of the Lord. On
reflection, of all the things he could have 'desired' the 'beauty' seems an odd
choice. But the reality is that contemplating beauty is a tonic for us all –
the beauty of people, of nature, of art – and of the spiritual dimensions we
cannot see, including the nature and structure of the universe itself.
If I think about the beauty of people, my wife
automatically pops into my mind – someone we love – partner, child, friend,
family member, role model – always seems beautiful to us and the thought of
them inspires us.
As for nature, what can I say? Who has not experienced the
impact of the sea or the mountain, or even the wilderness? What about the
teeming creatures in it – their intricate webs, designs, movements and
purposes? How fascinating it all is.
Shakepeare put it best, perhaps, regarding the power of art
when he specifically indicted negative responses to music:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
And the beauty of the universe? Plato had two proofs for
the existence of God. First, the interior proof, which he thought the existence
of the human soul. But second, the exterior proof: the order – the beauty – of
creation. He went so far as to say that the man who couldn’t perceive that was
‘dull and stupid’.
Find beauty, then – relentlessly seek it out in all aspects
of your life – and when you do you will feel all funk weaken!
The Mapping Motivation Series 