This is just a little idea that helped me get through a block the other day; maybe it will help you too.
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” –Rumi
I fell in love with this quote the first time I read it, and it continued to haunt me. I’ve written about it before (read here). I have it hanging on my bedroom wall, and continue to say it to myself often. The other day I read it differently though.
Before, I read it almost as a call to action –Let the beauty of what you love propel you to do what you love. In essence –do what you love. This idea tormented me. I placed this quote smack dab in the middle of my wall and created a vision board with pictures of all the things I love around it, all of what I wanted to be doing –travel, photography, yoga, writing, adventuring. I look at these pictures almost daily as I am getting dressed for work, or lying in bed at night. Many days I look at them with yearning. But I’m not teaching a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. I haven’t quit my day job to become a struggling writer. I’m not a professional photographer, or even own a professional-looking camera, for that matter. Every day of my life is not an adventure. And many days these thoughts make going to work, or even staying home enjoying a weekend day, difficult. 
Then one night lying in bed, I looked over at the quote and caught it in a new light, read it differently. Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. What do I really love? Do I really love planes, cameras, laptops, yoga even? No, I love how they make me feel. I love discovering the essence of life, that spark that is in the center of all things, I love sharing this with others. I love happiness, I love giving, I love light. There is the beauty of what I love.
Sometimes I say I love my job. That’s not true. I love aspects of my job. I love aspects of my life. There are also many parts of the day that I don’t love, or just feel neutral about. But if I were to spend more time focusing on the beautiful parts of my life, of my job, I would be letting the beauty of what I love be what I do. And not only focusing, but cultivating, working on this beauty. 
In other words, when I’m so focused on what I’m not doing, it’s depressing. But focusing on the beauty of my current life is more productive. For instance, this morning I found myself with some extra time before work. Rather than hash over the day before me, or wish I had an extra two or three hours instead of one, I decided to see what beauty I could bring to the day, and I wrote this post. And I carried that beauty-feeling with me for the rest of the day.
Extract beauty. Let the beauty of what you love shine through what you do –shine through everything you do. At first, I was reading “do” as our modern sense of the word. The question, “What do you do?” when asked any time we meet someone new always means what is your profession, what do you do for work. But “do” for Rumi may have meant everything you do.
And now this is how I read it: Let the beauty of what you love be in everything you do.
After you extract beauty, then infuse this beauty into everything you do. Perfume your life with it. Simply, do beauty.
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. Be love. Be beauty. In whatever you do. This must automatically lead to happiness. 
When I infuse beauty into my life, everything seems lighter. I am lighter. I am closer to the person I want to be. I am closer to heaven.
Of course, this is no easy thing. It is a lovely idea, a beautiful idea, even. But is it possible all the time, 24/7? No, of course not. Yet attempting it, trying it, remembering it, that may just be what saves you.
Stay tuned, more to come on this idea…
Related Posts:
That Beauty-Love-Truth Thing is Just Devine
Postscript: I should mention my evolving ideas on beauty and how it contributes to a happy life have been influenced by Jennifer Pastiloff’s 5 Most Beautiful Things Project. You should try it.
The Approximate Yogi 