It’s Time to Dispel the Beauty Myth
What is beauty? Is it an opinion, a mind-set, a temporary feeling? Is beauty simply “in the eye of the beholder” and not at all inherent to the beheld subject? I think beauty just is. Beauty is not a concept, an opinion or even an adjective. But, if beauty is simply a state of being – an “is-ness” we naturally embody, then what’s with all the fuss in the over $265 billion global beauty market?
Society and media messaging have greatly influenced our relationship to our own beauty, warping our thinking that being beautiful is only for certain people, or that beauty is attainable mostly through external means. I’m the perfect poster child for this kind of manipulation. I’ve spent much of my life comparing myself to the images in fashion magazines and trying to fit into a fabricated construct of beautiful. Whether it was by taming my wildly curly hair to look more like the other girls at school, tweezing my eyebrows to a wisp (yep, the 90s were cruel) or by restricting my diet in an attempt to rapidly shrink my post-partum waistline, I experienced the notion of being beautiful as something to work toward and not something I inherently possessed.
Being Beautiful – a paradigm shift
Beauty is a natural state of being. Yet, we’ve been conditioned to define beauty as something we aspire to, and that we must chase it to become it. Beauty brands large and small echo the sentiment that we must do certain things (like buy their products) so we can have a certain look (translation: fit in) and then we will be beautiful (i.e. accepted). In service of their bottom line, our relationship to our beauty has suffered. This backwards approach to fulfillment (doing something to have something to then be something) creates a constant cycle of dissatisfaction. It keeps us in consumption mode: thinking we can buy our way to being beautiful. However, something amazing happens when we shift our understanding of beauty to a “being-doing-having” approach. By being in our beauty we start doing things from an empowered place that bring true joy and fulfillment, and having that which we seek. It’s a paradigm shift that works in all areas of life, especially well in the context of experiencing our own beauty.
Beauty is Our Birthright
Beauty is not something we can go out and get, and it certainly does not exist in a bottle, jar or tube. Beauty has never been “out there.” The truth is, beauty has been within us all along – accessible to everyone. Being in our beauty can be such a joyful and nurturing experience, and there are many ways we can feel our beauty more deeply and tools that connect us to this delightful place. So let’s reclaim the words “beauty” and “beautiful” from all those commercials and magazine ads that obscure our very personal experience of beauty with their mass ideology. Let’s heal from all the damaging self-talk, the insidious ad-speak and all the misguided definitions of beauty. It’s time to shed our masks, the layers of shame and any of the labels society has adhered to our bodies, our faces and our beings. It’s time to embrace our truth and take back our beauty.
On Beauty
Root deep; soar high
Sink down into your beauty;
Honor the physical body you are blessed to occupy and marvel at the preciousness of your being, enjoying all the sweetness of life.
Rise up into your beauty;
Nurture your spirit, your soul, the life energy you embody. Fill yourself with the higher vibrations of love, joy, gratitude and profound peace.
Root deep; soar high
Reach your hands down into the earth and up into the cosmos
Feel the magnitude of your beauty as you exist for now and for-ever
Rest in your lightness and depth… be full with your beauty.
Author: Marissa Bethoney
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: Marissa Bethoney is the botanical alchemist and founder of Precious Skin Elixirs, an eco-conscious artisan skin-care collection that nourishes skin and soul with the healing power of plants and gemstones. When she’s not potion making, Marissa writes about deepening our relationship to ourselves and the vast beauty that resides in the earth and in each of us.
Link to social media or website: http://www.preciousskinelixirs.com
