Look at those bird footprints — they make the sidewalk beautiful.
Was it beautiful for the bird? Am I just viewing the world as good in ways it’s not, because artsy people taught me bird footprints are beautiful?
It’s ok to take pleasure in arbitrary things. That makes an arbitrary world better.
What if I’m assuming things will be ok on some level because that’s what’s convenient and conventional to believe? If I should be doing something drastically different with my time I’m not sure I would pay attention.
How about just go for a walk?
Related: Maggie Smith’s poem “Good Bones.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones
Mindfulness squared!
I might posit that we evolved a positive response to bird tracks, as they may have led our proto-human ancestors to food. The fact that they have residual beauty today, well, why complain!
I might also posit that our ancestors had some time themselves, between hunts and being hunted, to sit by streams and forest glades and just take things in. Such contemplation, or mindlessness if you will, might have reduced stress levels and made hunting and gathering more productive.
The fact we have been programmed to think such thoughts as yours — it’s human!