Staying true to my plant connection, I go out of my way to locate Earth friendly pathways, products, or create new simple habits for keeping my wellness and beautification routine as clean and therapeutic as possible. We are a visual culture and we often attribute beauty and wellness by our appearance alone, yet our mental fitness is often connected to our personality and character -always accentuating our ideal wellness and beauty, or completely undermining it.
My Unsolicited Opinion (Thanks for reading)
For me, overall beauty is captured by our practices of living well, having a body to explore, a grateful attitude and a stable mind. A complete package.
There are so many great teachers in the world. Despite my middle-agedness, I remain a student of the good idea and the many perspectives from around the world. Open-mindedness is my friend. For certain, I am in good company. Today, people run to doctors, medical spas, personal trainers, therapists, life coaches, shamans and self help books because we are never too old for guidance. For the seeker, this journey does not guarantee the proper help and a fitting outcome. We are impatient and we want to look and feel good... now! We might choose in haste. We might even choose a life changing experience that sets us on a wonderful path of physical and emotional joy. Our deepest self will leak this radiance or grief. How can we not sense if we are truly moving forward or feeling stuck? We are constantly shifting to experience times of thriving well and then feeling depleted. All is in a state of flux. I believe it is a lifetime of personal refinement, to include those days we look and feel awful. It is part of our growth. We can both calmly accept this and still continue to move forward gently.
Making Choices
Sometimes, socially acceptable wellness and beautification routines can actually be quite toxic or excessively materialistic, even addictive. Superficiality does not make us resilient; we can not truly hide that we are unhealthy, insecure, or unstable. Sorry. I can see this in a person so easily. I can also see clearly when a person is happy, grounded and at peace. It is about beauty and radiance from the core. As a person following herbalism and naturopathic medicine, I consider the quality of materialistic and nonmaterialistic aspects of today's suggestions: packaging of products, healthy behavioral changes, spiritual practices, self-paced learning, special training, social connectivity, consultations, stylists and natural medicine. There are so many ways to achieve your best without having to buy a load of stuff or risk side effects.
We already have the amazing gift of life, and an entirely unique constitution and appearance. The urge to distort this truth, can be an endless, fruitless endeavor to chase an ideal. The consequences can be the accumulation of debt or not having peace of mind, especially by botched services, unexpected outcomes, or poor quality products.
Beautiful to the Core: My Lessons from the Garden
1. Companions
When I became a gardener, I learned about companion plants. Companion plants are plants that help other plants thrive better. For example, if you grow Borage along side your tomato plants, you fend off pests and support the growth of veggies. Some companion plants remediate the soil, or support pollination. People also need a similar chemistry and dynamic. Not surprisingly, high on the list of causes for feeling and looking unwell (in your own mind) is a struggling relationship. If someone is constantly criticizing us, suddenly we might not feel attractive. Thriving well does not include another person depleting us in any way, hurting our health, draining us of our precious time to grow. I don't like to use the word "toxic" (although I have) because I believe we ALL can be a negative influence from time to time. Perhaps, our rough habits are chasing others away. I do, however, believe in chemistry. I don't water weedy relationships that bring me confusion. I quietly disappear and transplant myself to a better environment. I have even let go of jobs or clients for this reason. Some friendships we outgrow. Some must urgently end. Some relationships take a healthy break. Some heal after conflict. Some need time to evolve. Some last a lifetime. Don't give up. Look into this. There are about 8 billion people on the planet. Don't worry if you struggle with unstable relationships, it takes practice, more friends, coworkers and new forms of family are patiently waiting for you to find them. Cultivate the kind of relationship that brings happiness. My recommended reading that applies to all relationships: The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz (click on image to follow link).
2. Make your Bed
If I plan to have a lovely resilient garden, I take responsibility for creating the foundation to actually have one. The garden bed is very challenging to create at first, maybe putting muscle into it, tilling, shoveling, fertilizing, because that initial work is the pathway to the vision we have of the future. Same with our health and happiness. Our foundation is key to a balanced vibrant life. Exercise, nutrition, and emotional support are obviously the things that you have already heard about, over and over again. What is new information for you here? If the novel pathway to physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing is not inspirational and providing actual desired outcomes, it is probably not the best matching pathway. Take responsibility for making your bed! Get blood tests, talk to a nutritionist, see a dentist, go on a retreat, get an evaluation, find a mentor...Work hard to educate yourself about nutrition, dynamic body movement, spiritual inner work, grooming and styling that flatters your body type, and nontoxic hygiene. The foundation of beauty and wellness is at an inner core.
3. Maintaining the Garden
On those days that I don't give the garden attention, it is not a problem if it is not a habit. If I have been checking the garden for illness, infestations, hydration, trimming and fertilizing, my garden can handle a bit of drought, extreme temperature spells and a little neglect. Our bodies and minds are similar. Once we our fortified, we are resilient and our system functions fine during hard times. Longterm stress can make us ill, make us wrinkle, even initiate hair loss, especially if our system is compromised. Looking good is strongly tied to feeling good. The expression "aging gracefully" is a good attitude, but awakening our personal power with age makes the most sense; we know our bodies and emotional needs very well and we address them. We become a fortress. Hopefully, we all scan our bodies on a daily basis and tend to the garden of our mind, body and soul. Do keep up with the aging process through re-education about the shifting needs of the body. Illness can teach us more about our body, so we may work on that vulnerability. Every body is different and you may notice a bodily or emotional shift in 2 years, 5 years, maybe in 10 years. Stay on it. Maintain the garden. Radiating what is authentic about ourselves is more than beautiful, it is powerful and a gift to the world. Doing your best won't always put you at 100%, but will definitely exude an unmistakeable energetic beauty.
Final Notes
We are a complete multi-dimensional package. Big businesses will try to sell us a fractured version of who we are, what we can be, embellished body parts and accessories. Beauty and commerce has been heavily linked together in today's world, so much so that we are embarrassed by weight gain, hair loss, stature, our shape, our color and our clothes. The people around us, or in our social circumstances, might also be under the spell of trends, and influence our feelings about ourselves. This can be difficult to overcome. My compassion for those that struggle with this has inspired this post. We don't have to adopt dysfunctional definitions of beauty. Being whole is a lifetime of discovery. You can become more beautiful with age.
Finally, our beauty is a reflection of our companions, our habits and our gratitude for having a body with its many senses. Trends can be fun, but doesn't do much for originality. Be authentic. Find joy, find peace, find health, and watch how attractive and unique you truly are. Life is an adventure, enjoy all dimensions. Nothing is more attractive than a very happy person; they light up the room. And that is gorgeous.
Peace friends. Thanks for your time.
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