"Depression opens the door to beauty of some kind." 
- James Hillman

I was reading many quotes on beauty, looking for something that might make you think, say Hmmm and wonder, be uplifted... something we could learn from. It seemed like hundreds. This quote stopped me in my tracks.

I don't know if you experienced any of those possible reactions with James Hillman's quote, but it made me pause and think.

It seems to me that beauty has even more forms, perspectives, and understandings than strength. And strength has many. 
 

There's beauty in music, art, mathematics, our dreams, solutions, nature, admitting we are wrong. There's beauty in real life, in all of creation, perhaps in everything.

I have seen beauty at funeral masses and after tragedies and horrors. I see beauty not in the tragedy but in the aftermath, when we connect with one another authentically, with deep compassion. That is the greatest form of beauty for me.

I see beauty in anything and everything that makes us remove our masks and be honest and willing to be vulnerable. 

I think of Anne Frank saying: "Think of the beauty still left around you and be happy." 

So I imagine that facing depression, experiencing it without trying to stifle or deny feelings, going through it summoning courage, strength and hope - there is indeed beauty in that.

What do you think?

With love,
Charlene
 

PS - If some of the sentences are underlined, I apologize. I don't know why that happened. Maybe for emphasis for us, but done by whom?
 

THE SECOND GIFT IS BEAUTY.  
May your deeds reflect its depth.   
from The Twelve Gifts of Birth