Many people may claim that they can not nurture and respect their aesthetic dimension because they are not artistic or that their work is to structured for creativity or that they don't have time to sit and soak in the beauty of everyday life. The truth is that we all can and do take part in artistic actions. The author quotes Confucius when he states that, "Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it" (83). This idea is not wide spread but extremely accurate. Everything in our world has beauty in it. There is beauty in all types of work. A well planed and delivered presentation can be a piece of art work, a carefully crafted piece of machinery can turn a factory in to an art gallery, and an inventive new curriculum can morph a teacher into an artist. As easy as it is to find these beautiful features within our lives, it is equally as easy to neglect and over look these features.
Everyone possesses the ability to be creative. We also all possess the ability to passively soak in the beauty surrounding us. I can remember driving down the freeway around dusk on a Friday night. The freeway was packed and cars were swerving in and out of traffic, people were on their cell phones, and everyone was rushing around. I looked up to see a beautiful sunset over the horizon. I suddenly was over come by a sense of calmness and inner peace. I looked around me and everyone was rushing around. No one was stopping to enjoy the beauty that was right in front of them. Everyone was too concerned about getting home. This same neglect happens in the work place. People do their day to day routines, their only concerns are the deadlines, never stopping to see the beauty in their work. We often fail to appreciate the inner beauty within our jobs. By doing this we are making our work mandate instead of meaningful. .
If this beauty is not appreciated we can not fulfill our full potential of excellence in the workplace.
