Playful like Dancing Sunlight

personal reflections on how to reckon with the transformational nature of Beauty

This is an episode of Poetic Antidotes in Movement, a series in collaboration with Kindra Calonia. Kindra comes from a postcolonial research background and is a wellness alchemist working to hold space for others so that they may reclaim their voice and be sovereign in their healing process. She offers her practices complementing them to the essay and helping readers integrate teachings through an embodiment practice. See our Darkness and Duality collaboration.

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“Frequently, beauty is playful like dancing sunlight, it cannot be predicted, and in the most unlikely scene or situation can suddenly emerge. This spontaneity and playfulness often subverts our self-importance and throws our plans and intentions into disarray. Without intending it, we find ourselves coming alive with a sense of celebration and delight. The pedestrian sequence of a working day breaks, a new door opens and the heart recognizes the silent majesty of the ordinary. The things we never notice, like health, friends and love, emerge from their subdued presence and stand out in their true radiance as gifts we could never have earned or achieved. Beauty”

John O Donohue

When I began to write this essay I felt like I was about to climb a mountain. There are so many ways to talk about beauty and one essay is definitely not enough, and I am sure there will be more. When you cannot write, everyone always tells you the secret is to start. I went to what is familiar to me, family anecdotes, and when it comes to the topic of Beauty, there is one person who comes to mind more than anyone else; my grandmother.