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The Power of this Simple Question: How Can I be Helpful?
Beauty is a collective virtue. We miss opportunities to create and see beauty in our everyday lives when we fail to consider the needs of others.
Everyone is needy — for attention, affection, and affirmation. These are baseline human wants, whether we express them or not, feel them more acutely on a given day or not, or even acknowledge them to ourselves. If we remember that we all share these needs, we can approach one another with a generosity that enables beauty to emerge and flourish.
The question, how can I be helpful? whether asked or simply implied by your presence, can transform even the most mundane interaction.
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There is no beauty without need.
Flower petals are bright and shapely to attract pollinating insects; human beings come in all colors, sizes, and shapes to attract the mates we need to survive. But evolutionary need is not the only catalyst for beauty; psychological need also conjures spectacular beauty into the world.
We choose to paint portraits, write symphonies, and craft wooden boats not as matters of biological necessity but to enrich our inner lives. In equally artful ways, we choose to form a lasting bond with someone special, have kids, make friends, and join communities to more fully…
