Seeing all the beauty

The encounter that was of such great significance to me now lies more than 40 years in the past. And yet I still remember it today as though it were yesterday. Back then I was a young, ambitious man, deeply committed to my work. That was why I was utterly happy to be spending my holiday on a small sailing boat among the Croatian islands.

I loved the sea and sailed in short legs from island to island. On one of these small islands lived a painter who, together with his warm-hearted wife, had turned an old, half-ruined stone house into a magical, romantic holiday retreat.

The year before, I had become friends with Sonja and Manuel, as the two of them were called. That year I was able to visit them again and stay for a few days – and they were wonderful days. Glorious summer weather, the sea a Caribbean blue, Mediterranean food, interesting conversations that went on for hours, accompanied by the sound of the waves and local wine.

On the way

The next day, Manuel – delighted that his beautifully painted landscape pictures had made such an impression on me – invited me to accompany him to his work. On the way to his subject, he said to me: “You know, painting begins with seeing.” “What do you mean by that?” I asked him. “What are you noticing right now?” he prompted me. “I can see the sea in its turquoise colour, then I see the beach. The fine stones on the shore are white. I can see the boat, the trees, the shrubs and the blue sky,” I listed.

“What else do you see?” Manuel wanted to know. “The white clouds moving gently,” I added. “What else – look more carefully,” he urged me. “Ivy leaves winding their way up a tree trunk,” I extended my list. “What else can you see?” he persisted. “The two seagulls swimming in the water,” I replied.

“Do you see the branch that washed up here and has now been bleached by sun and water? Do you see the spider’s web right in front of us? Do you see the pine needle caught in this web? Do you see the glittering of the sunlight on the water? The gentle waves rolling the small stones back and forth on the beach. Do you see the shadow that the trees cast on the beach?”

Experiencing more intensely

All these questions made me realise that I was only now truly perceiving so many things. The light, the shadow, the constant change. Suddenly I had the feeling that I had never really seen my surroundings properly before.

“You have no idea how many people go through their lives with ever less attention. They do see the things around them, but they fail to notice much of the beauty in the detail and in its uniqueness. As a result, they miss out on so many wonderful sensations.”

I watched Manuel as he painted, with great attention, marvelling at how he let light and shadow flow into his picture – and I noticed how my way of seeing had suddenly changed.

Later, when I was already the father of a small daughter, I tried to pass on this experience I had once had. Whenever we went out into nature, I would ask her: “What did you see?” At first she was surprised by the question, but she would try to recall what she had seen. The more often we played this game, which she too found interesting, the more precise her descriptions became. Today she has a remarkable gift for observation that often surprises even me, and which she has passed on to her own small daughter with great love and sensitivity.

She is also very grateful to me that these exercises in her childhood have made her capable today of seeing and feeling the beauty of nature far more intensely – something that gives her renewed inspiration, strength and happiness again and again.

Do we not take far too little time to observe the wonders of nature with open eyes and senses? And yet this experience gives us immeasurable harmony and joy in life. Under the motto “Seeing all the beauty”, a book has also come into being, from which I am permitted to quote one of my own poems:

“Who still notices it, the scent of the fresh summer meadow? Who is still prepared to listen to the silence? Who still finds delight in the babbling of the young stream? Who still helps their soul to a joyful life?” Karl Leger

For many years he worked in management; he now shares his accumulated experience and insights as a business consultant, trainer, coach and author. www.leger.co.at