Day 70/366 days Toward Self-Mastery. Mood: chill
Yesterday I wrote about outward appearances. Finding our true style, our inner glam, our glitz, our boho, that sometime when we feel we just want to not worry about appearances at all and just hangout in PJs and be unkempt for the day.
This journey is not about style. It's about discovering who we really are underneath all the pretence, under the rules about how we should look, the expectations about our presentation. These are simply starting places.
My search to discover what was true and real for me started early, around 20 years of age. I had a lot of impetus, a great incentive, having been dictated to ruthlessly for the first 18 years. No box was big enough to hold me in. My spirit had been compressed and it wanted to be wild and free.
Today's inspiration is to recognise that there are times when your true self will appear on the outside unexpectedly
You'll just be too tired or sick to put you best foot forward. Own it, be okay with it.
Be comfortable in allowing yourself to languish in bed until late into morning, to rise and lounge with unkept hair and in your PJs.
Own it. Seriously. It's okay to not be perfect for a time, or at all!
Those first 20 years of adulthood were about learning what wasn't me, fitting in and trying to find a style that suited me, and discovering that there wasn't one. It was 20 years later before I made any real progress.
The second 20 produced a more fruitful search. Having exhausted myself of living up to trends and others expectations I decided to throw in the towel and figure out what I really loved about my appearance. It did help that my then current BF wanted to don me with pretty pink and frills, and I was more the sporty girl in safari khaki and Doc Martins.
And here I am. Living my way in a style that works well for me, that feels like me and that I feel most comfortable in.
My hair is naturally grey and I love it. Never has it been healthier than without all the toxic colours and setting solutions. I receive more compliments for it now than I ever did in the passed.
Makeup is a real treat, I wear it only occasionally preferring to enjoy the health and radiance of my natural skin. And I'm noticing that I admire that natural beauty in other women as well.
The more we discover our inner most self, the more we become more settled and content with life. Our physical appearance begins to change in all sorts of ways that are too numerous to describe here. Suffice it to say that the tensions we hold in our mind are also held in our body, and as they are released our physical appearance changes.
Our inner beauty naturally radiates to the surface.
The more we claim of our own inner essence, the more authentic we become and the more congruent our outer appearance represents our inner beauty.
Life keeps getting better.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.