The backlit tulip blossom seemed to glow internally—a natural, petaled mandala drawing me in.
The other day, I was walking past a small bouquet of orange tulips in a vase on our kitchen table. Brilliant outside sunshine illuminated the flowers from behind. From a certain angle, they appeared to glow.
One tulip in particular caught my attention. It's stem was bending from the weight of the flower and, unlike its vertical neighbors, was pointing horizontally, its flower open to my view. It was not a view I was accustomed to.
Backlit tulip flower. Clicking on the photo will take you to its location on the Iris Arts website. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
The backlighting gave it an internal glow and the simple, symmetrical beauty of the flower gave me pause. I spent several more minutes fascinated by the quality of light and the form and color of the petals. Then I went to get my camera.
Tulip blossoms from the side. Clicking on the photo will take you to its location on the Iris Arts website. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
I think this is the sort of "soft fascination" that nature evokes—a pleasant, effortless, and restorative distraction by something familiar and innate. A recent article describes how "soft fascination" helps relieve the brain's attention fatigue.
“[W]hat makes an environment restorative is the combination of attracting involuntary attention softly while at the same time limiting the need for directing attention,” wrote the authors of a 2010 study in Perspectives on Psychological Sciences.
Admittedly, I was not feeling stressed and I wasn't experiencing attention fatigue, so I am not sure my temporary fascination with the tulip can be called "restorative." However, the unplanned experience was pleasant and if (when!) the demands on my attention ever get to be too much, perhaps I'll just gaze at a flower.
More conventional view of the bouquet of tulips. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
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