Stuff I Find When Looking Down

Whenever I'm walking outside, I'm always looking down for treasures. I never know what I'll find but it's usually rusty and cool and I just have to have it!! My girls are used to this - they often help me find great pieces that I might have missed had there not been four more eyes looking! I'm not happy until my pockets are full! I have quite a collection of these "treasures" waiting to be re-purposed in the right art project. My favorite is twisted old wire which makes unique hangers for my collages or mixed media pieces.

Writing this post has gotten me thinking about how this relates to life. How often do we miss what's right under our feet because we are so focused on looking ahead to where we're going? While I'm great at looking down and finding odds and ends under my feet, I'm not great at applying this to my own life.  Sometimes I find myself so immersed in future concerns that I'm missing the little (but important) things happening right under my nose. It's like thinking about what I'll have for dessert before I've even started eating my dinner!  The challenge for me is to take notice and "collect"  the little things I find all around me in the present.....laughter, hugs, a smile, kind words.............these are the real treasures!