There are flowers everywhere

“There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look.”
- Henri Matisse

Inspiration can be found in all the (un)usual places. I like the quote by Henri Matisse very much, there really are flowers to be found in all kinds of everyday places. We tend to filter them out, because there’s no use for flowers in our present mindset at that moment. This week I’m getting up at 5am and on Tuesday I took the time to really experience sunrise with Matisse in the back of my mind.

Sunrise
The air is fresh, but the night still rules the sky and keeps it covered in its dark cloak. Somewhere in a tree a bird starts singing, anticipating sunrise. Slowly the night sky starts fading from black into darker shades of gray, the outline of the world becomes visibly as a placeholder to be colored by the sun. It’s still hard to see colors, there’s not enough light yet to really see colors. Remarkably I think I can see colors, but I suspect I’m being tricked by my mind filling in the usual colors.

Over the next couple of minutes the clouds become visible as pinkish spots on the fading night sky. Looking up I realize I’m looking at the bottom of a satellite picture that will be shown on the breakfast news in an hour or so. Thinking about the satellite I decide to travel up there in my mind, and along the way I look at earth waking up. Scattered around movement is visible when animals and people alike start the day.

Once up there, I look down from the satellite. There’s only a small piece of earth experiencing this magical moment of sunrise. I look around and gaze at the stars in awe, I always find the vast infinity of the universe overwhelming. The light I’m looking at is millions of years old, maybe that star is not there anymore at present. Quite the paradox: I’m an important part of my universe, but so insignificant in the total universe.

More birds start to sing, and I return to earth. A rabbit hops on the green field in front of our house, nibbling on grass that’s wet with dew. I remember Matisse and look around, there really are flowers everywhere…