If there’s anything I want you to take from reading here, it’s that life is what you make of it and that your perspective can be shaped and reshaped so that you can be happier. In other words, there’s something interesting to learn and beautiful things to see all around but you sometimes have to go looking for them.

My room on the nineteenth floor of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus came with a view of a parking garage roof, some buildings and highways that criss-crossed as far as the eye could see. Rain and gloom made it appear even more workaday than it would normally seem. I sat by the window Sunday evening, killing time with a writing project while I waited to meet my party for dinner. The view became increasingly attractive as the gloomy, rainy evening  turned into a dark night and nearby buildings and far off traffic transformed into beautiful works of lighted  art. 

I enjoyed seeing how darkness and artificial lights changed my view and I went to sleep looking forward to sunrise. 

When I hopped out of bed the next morning, it was still dark outside and I could hear sirens on the highway far below my window. I was showered, dressed and next to the window again when the sun began to brighten the horizon. First a subtle bit of purple broadened to a brighter line of pink that slowly crept across the entire sky. Colors pushed away the darkness until a bright peachy light washed over the city skyline and into the blue.

A city sunrise is so different than our country sunrises. Light over trees will always be my favorite but this wasn’t a shabby view either despite the parking garage roof and ribbon of highways. There’s something to be said for being open to seeing beauty in the mundane.

Try it for yourself sometime. Go look for something good in the ugly and boring. You may be surprised at what you find.