Commit a Random Act of Beauty
There are times in your life when a visual pick-me-up or some other form of marvelous inspiration can make your day. Other times, if the muse strikes you or things just fall into place as you want them to, you may wish to share the joy of your discovery or moment of beauty. Sharing the beauty of life is one sure fire way to kindle special warmth and love in others. To find some ways to touch that special spot in others, here are some heart-stirring suggestions.
Contents
Steps
Being creative
- Use whatever is 'lying around' to make something ordinary into something beautiful. Junk art is not an oxymoron––there are real artists who spend their lives turning junk into beauty. This art form proves that one man's trash is another man's Make a Mini Treasure Chest. And it's a way of showing respect to your planet and fellow human beings by reusing its resources to spread beauty. It's about igniting a sense of resourcefulness within you.
- Turn your favorite art or craft skill toward re-purposing junk into art. If you knit or crochet, try knitting or crocheting with unwanted materials like plastic bags, netting or old sweaters. If you love to paint, do still life paintings that show the beauty of garbage––now there's a challenge for you! If you're into woodworking, tin-crafting, decoupaging, etching, drawing, gluing, cutting and pasting, there will always be endless inspirations out there for you to work with junks and turn them into something more useful and beautiful.
- For ideas, use your favorite search engine and search for junk art projects or junk art ideas, etc.
- Check out wikiHow's vast selection of how-tos on re-purposing old junks into useful new items. For example, visit the Reduce Recycle and Reuse category for more ideas than you'll have time to know what to do with!
- Use your computer to create beauty. You have the choice as to what you share and create in the digital environment. Via online, you can choose to share stories of hope, images of awesomeness and words of encouragement. All of these equal random acts of beauty and make the internet a better virtual place. On screen, you can spend your time making incredible works of beauty using your writing and imaging or design talents. Just a few examples:
- Graphic software of all types can assist you with design and craft. Some programs are free, while some have quite the price tag. Choose whatever lets you transform your ideas into things of beauty to share with others.
- Use scrap-booking software to make pages to share with family and friends.
- Write short stories, poems and novels. Getting started is often half the battle, so set aside those excuses and make the time. Share with a friend, then a colleague and then a stranger, getting your work out there and brightening their day. You can even write here in Wikihow and manage your blog by the words of wisdom only you can have.
- Get a program like Photoshop and start playing around with your photos. Make them brighter, funnier, entertaining or simply prettier. Add messages of fun and hopefulness. Send them to family and friends to add a spot of beauty in their day.
- Send amazing things you've made by email. Take photos of whatever you've created, write a very simple email message with lots of hugs and send it to cheer up someone who is snowed under with work or problems. Help them to remember what matters in life.
Being inspired by nature
- Take advantage of the season. Whatever season you're in, it's a beautiful one and you owe it to yourself to see its beauty. Even in the middle of a freezing winter or a searing summer, there is beauty to be found for those who look. To share this beauty, here are a few things you can do:
- Point out to people how lovely the day is. Point out the symmetry of the snowflakes, the shimmering haze on the horizon or the changing colors of the leaves. They may not have seen the beauty amid all their troubles all by themselves but you can bring them there through your exquisite shares of real natural beauty.
- Enjoy the seasonal events to their fullest. Whether it's Halloween, Make a Thanksgiving Flower Arrangement, Christmas, or any other occasion, share the joy of that season by celebrating it and sharing tokens of beauty related to the event. The seasonal event provides myriad opportunities to appreciate the beauty of the season.
- Make nature craft items that celebrate the abundance and beauty of nature's abundance. There are many possibilities, including making wreaths from twigs and leaves, nut sculptures, leaf prints, photos of landscapes turned into artworks, seed pictures, seed pod figurines, and much more. Give to friends and family after creating, or share your images of your creations on sites such as Pinterest.
- Plant small spring bulbs. Make a Graduated Dibble for Planting Bulbs blends in well with grass and is one of the first flowers to blossom in the spring. You can go further and plant them surreptitiously in your neighborhood park or along a favorite walking path. They're fairly hardy and need no weeding or fertilizer when established.
- Of course, never plant pest plants randomly. Always take into account what's native to your area and stick to increasing the amount of that rather than spreading invasive species!
- Plant a garden to create an outward show of natural beauty. Many Keep Perennials Healthy and Create a Wildlife Habitat are available. As for flowers, their blooms will attract the gaze of passers-by and visitors alike, for there are few people who wouldn't feel joy at seeing flowers in full bloom!
- Talk to your local greenhouse or nursery about what plants will do best in your area, as plants used to local conditions will always thrive best. By growing a locally-derived garden, not only are you beautifying the area, you are also providing yet another Play Your Part in Reducing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide recycling area on planet earth.
Random acts of beauty
- Pick up litter whenever possible. This may also inspire others to do likewise, and the cleaner an area is, the less likely others will litter.
- If that voice in your head says, "I didn't drop that, so why should I pick it up?", remind yourself that the whole world is your home and backyard. Sure, you may not have made the mess but you care enough to do something about it and remind others of what really matters.
- Join in other litter cleaning up efforts, on beaches, in parks and in the countryside. If you see others already collecting litter, pitch in and help.
- Beautify a public area. If you have the time and skills, find a rundown part of your neighborhood to make more beautiful. Gather some other members of the community, some paint, yarn, gardening tools, whatever and get to beautifying it. While this is probably not quite "random", as you'll need to plan a little, it'll seem random and beautiful to most of the community who have grown used to ugly façade and rundown areas of their local area.
- Always check that it's okay to start painting or changing something owned by others. If it's a public space, check with the municipality first if the result is likely to be permanent.
- Rundown buildings that never get done up can be canvases for people's dreams. Paint with chalkboard paint. Leave boxes of chalk next to the painted walls. And ask simple questions like: Who do you really want to be? or What would you rather be doing? or What should this building be turned into? Encourage a few people to write some lines, then it'll probably get a life of its own.
- Look around. Sometimes, the Make a Beauty Guide of the world or of human life needs some encouragement or enhancement to be seen by others. Maybe that is your calling; to see what others don't and add to it, then make it clear for all else to see.
Tips
- Be brave! Even little things can make someone else's day so much better, and you'll feel better with yourself too.
- Just because no one has done it before doesn't mean it can't be done. Maybe nobody has thought of it. Even if they have, maybe they chose to keep it to themselves when it needs to be shared. Be bold, and make it something everyone else can feel passionate about too.
