I am a TEDx Talk junky. I receive all the emails and newsletters, I spend way too much time watching the motivational speakers and researchers talk about any topic for hours on end.
In 2011, Louie Schwartzberg gave a speech entitled “Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.” Louie has been filming and producing for the last 4 decades, working with Disneynature and National Geographic. His trade work is in time-lapse style filming flowers blooming, plants being pollinated, and vegetables growing. The appeal of time-lapse is that he can see things that are too fast, too slow, or too bright for the human eye. He can slow them down make them available for everyone to see an enjoy.
During this TALK, Mr. Schwartzberg describes nature’s beauty as a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude. He then goes on to show an interview with a child and an elderly gentleman. The gentleman’s speech is beautiful – he says:
“You think this is just another day in your life? It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well. Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment, with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even with the weather, we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day, right now, has unique weather, maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. That formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that.”
Today is your gift to live, to enjoy, and be grateful. There is so much beauty to admire and so many things that are a cause for gratitude. What will you choose to do with this wonderful gift? If it begins with gratitude it will be something that you will not regret.
Mandi Moon, Director, St. Luke’s Children’s Center
