I watched a beautiful, yellow swallowtail butterfly dance in and out of the Rose of Sharon pink flowers.  It was so lovely to see that I decided to capture its beauty in a photo. 

 

It is challenging to follow a swallowtail as it flits quickly from one flower to the next with brief momentary stillness.  But after multiple attempts, I was finally able to snap three pictures of my sweet yellow friend. 

 

Later when I took out the photos, I noticed some dead blossoms amongst the vibrant pink ones in the background.  I had been so focused on the beauty and dance of the butterfly that I completely missed that.  “So much for a perfect photo,” I thought. But then, a second thought surfaced from deep in my awareness.

 

I realized I was so happy and grateful to Nature while watching the butterfly that I truly didn't see anything ugly or negative. I only saw beauty and perfection. The photo showed me that the ugly was there, but in awareness, there is no ugly.  Nor can negativity exist in the presence of happiness!  Therefore, ugly can’t exist in the presence of perfection.

 

This simple experience with the butterfly brought an instantaneous expansion of awareness for me. I accepted it with an open heart, knowing that I will never look at life the same way again.