This idyllic scene was photographed just a few minutes walk from my house. It’s lovely, isn’t it?

Would you believe me if I told you it’s also minutes from a busy A-Road, a train station and a supermarket? That it’s in between a large retail and business park? Perhaps you’d be more likely to believe in an ancient flint church and a wooded ridge, both of which are also close by.

There are many layers to our world and I believe that beauty is everywhere, if we care to look for it. While it’s important to acknowledge both the good and the bad, choosing to focus on things we find beautiful, rather than being dissatisfied, can be a powerful tool for change.

In my Ambeth books I write about the Balance, that which lets enough darkness into the world that we can appreciate light. Even when we’re surrounded by ugliness, hopefully we can find something there that makes us happy, or gives us hope.

So take a look around wherever you are today, and see if you can find something of beauty there. Share it with us all in the comments, if you like 🙂