Hot Potato!

See Beautiful will be seeing beautiful through the end of the month while traveling (in person) through various countries. During that time, we're going back in time on the blog, back to the beginning and some of our favorite posts that our wonderful following now likely didn't get to experience. P.S., Blogger family, if we seem absent from visiting you know we'll be back soon to catch up!

 6.6.11 Hot Potato! Hot Potato!

When you pass potatoes in the grocery store, how often do you pause to think, "Beautiful."? Perhaps they are...

The following quote, found in  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was shared by a See Beautiful™ reader. While she was reading, this passage reminded her of our mission (and we were thrilled that it jumped out at her!).

"In every nook, I find little things that tell me about her.  She was a noticer, Sidney, like me, for all the shelves are lined with shells, bird feathers, dried sea grasses, pebbles, eggshells, and the skeleton of something that might be a bat.  They're just bits that were lying on the ground, that anyone else would step over or on, but she saw they were beautiful and brought them home." (pg. 166)

There are several reasons why this passage, book, and the Hot Potato! game itself can help us see beautiful:

1. The passage: Like a potato, many people step over or pass by truly beautiful aspects of life without noticing. Today, you might look for something beautiful that many have already walked over. Take a moment to explore why the seemingly insignificant is truly exquisite. 
2. The book: Without describing the plot of the book, one of the beautiful pieces is the underlying theme validating the benefits of social support structures as a necessity. Human interaction and friendship offer hope and strength to survive the daily ins-and-outs of troubled times. This might remind you of the Socks for Japan effort noted in the blog last week. The simple act of offering socks brought a glimmer of hope to the lives of those who desperately needed it.
3. The Game:  You might remember the Hot Potato! game to be high-pressure and fast, but we think the premise of the game is beautiful: Just as quickly as you receive the potato, you have to give it away. What if we applied this strategy in aspects of our lives? What if, without much thought, giving was automatic and innate? With all we receive, we give. Further, there's no strategy to Hot Potato! besides giving away the potato. There's really no strategy to giving in life either. It's quite simply a beautiful thing to give.

Perhaps those potatoes sitting in the grocery store really are our opportunity to see beautiful. Perhaps they're our reminder to give, without thinking, and with the enthusiasm of a giddy five-year-old playing a hysterical game.
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Are you looking for a for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. Click HERE.