“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beauty is the unspoken art of truth-telling.
It defines everything we do, see, feel, create. It is the foundation of our creations. It's the food that feeds the soul and nourishes the spirit. It holds us together and allows us to fall apart.
Beauty isn't always pretty, but when it is aesthetically arresting or a calming comfort to the confusion, then its got our heart's full attention.
Beauty begins with the environment we create for ourself and others. Our culture inherently values what things look like on the outside, but true beauty radiates from the inside out. Beauty is the essence we radiate out in the world. Naturally, organically, authentically.
Let's face it, we all have an ideal we'd like to live up to. The fact of the matter is, even the most “together” beautiful beings are perfectly imperfect. Celebrate your fractured identity, uncertainty and ambiguity. Stop trying to be a mediocre version of an image you have imagined yourself to be. Start becoming your authentic, imperfect self. We aren't meant to figure this out. And, as soon as we do, we've already become someone new. Life changes and so do we. Celebrate the unique beauty that you already are and everyone else will too. Let everyday be a tabula rasa for how you want to create and live your life.
Sometimes, we need to be inspired outwardly to feel the beauty inwardly. The beauty we see, feel and experience in our surroundings can be the catalyst for changing us on the inside. It's what Joseph Campbell called “Divinely superfluous beauty.” Moments like these can alter us for a minute or a lifetime. They can shock suddenly or surprise subtlely, arresting us out of the slumber we call our everyday autopilot lives. It might be brought on by a conversation overheard, offering just the words we needed to hear. Or, the rapture of a work of art. This kind of beauty stops us in our tracks and makes us reconsider everything.
What kind of beauty are you craving in your life right now?
A Sunday slowdown moment with a cup of tea and a good book. A twenty minute movement meditation to get back into your body again. A deeply honest conversation with a loved one. A virtual visit with family or friends. An outfit or piece of jewelry as a talisman to remind you what you've forgotten about yourself. A walk under a clear blue sky or just rained upon landscape. Whatever your heart needs right now to feel the beauty of this world, give yourself permission to slowdown and let it sink deeply into the marrow of your bones.
x Alisa
