How does beauty impact the human mind? The mind relaxes with pleasant sensations and becomes agitated with disturbing ones. This is true for animals as well. A pleasing sound will put you at rest, while loud, jarring noises will disturb your peace. These are obvious truths. We just don’t take them to their logical conclusion. Beauty pleases us. Harmony pleases us. Discord, agitation, disharmony, and ugliness disturb us. If the nervous system is at peace, all the organs in the body work better. If the nervous system is agitated, you get into a fight-or-flight mode which, over a long term, wears down the resilience and plasticity of the body.It is not enough for us to appreciate beauty. We must also create it. Since time immemorial, humans have been creating works of art that are beautiful, through drawing, painting, sketching, poetry, songs, dances, music, buildings, architecture and the like. We revel in beauty. We revel in having it around us and in creating it ourselves. It is a human need. The human body and mind function better when they have access to beauty and the opportunities to enjoy and create it. This is an enormous wealth that has been given to us on a platter. The ability to appreciate beauty, to find joy and meaning in it.Do we use this wealth fully? Do we allow ourselves time and space to immerse in beauty, whether through nature or through art? Do we surround ourselves with it? This is one determinant of how rich or poor our lives are. And again, this has less to do with the amount of money one has and more with a sensibility which is either allowed to flourish or is suppressed. We all know of extremely rich people with awfully poor taste. It is because they haven’t cultivated sensitivity.Sensitivity (in a good sense, not in the sense of touchiness) is what allows us to appreciate, enjoy, and create beauty. Sensitivity, which in one sense is the essence of being alive, is intimately connected with the aesthetic faculty. It is the ability to appreciate harmony, pick up nuances, and be present. Without it, you may see the most beautiful beach in the world or gaze at the most beautiful painting, and it will mean nothing to you. Sensitivity also allows us to notice and experience beauty in others and in ourselves. Human beings have always noticed and appreciated beauty in other human beings.Different eras and times have had different standards of beauty. But never has the notion of human beauty itself been absent. Even individually, what two people find beautiful may be different from each other. The point is not to create a universal standard of beauty. The point is to experience beauty. In others. In ourselves.This beauty exists in ourselves. This is a remarkable fact which is not emphasised enough. There is great beauty in ourselves. In our age, unrealisable standards of beauty are pushed down our throats, with the result that almost nobody feels beautiful. Whereas the truth is exactly the opposite. Almost everybody is beautiful in some way or another.When we discover the wealth of beauty, we also discover it in ourselves. Our eyes may be beautiful, our smiles may be beautiful, our hearts may be beautiful. We keep finding a greater and deeper ability to appreciate beauty, in ourselves and all around us. And this makes our lives infinitely richer. It makes our relationships with ourselves and with others much more joyful.— Excerpted from ‘More Than Money: What is Real Wealth and How to Find It?’, with permission from Amaryllis