Come,
My love.
Let's sit a while and let beauty remember us.
Beauty is everywhere,
In sunset clouds and ocean sparkles,
And in you,
Too.
Before we begin,
Settle yourself.
Find a place where you won't be disturbed.
A cosy chair,
Your bed,
The floor.
Somewhere you can close your eyes and soften for just a little while.
Rest your hands in your lap and take one slow breath.
No need to force it.
And just take the breath that was there,
Waiting.
And then take another,
Letting the air sigh softly out through your lips as you soften a little more.
Let's imagine for a moment that you were born into a life many,
Many moons ago.
Before mirrors,
Before photos and videos offered their permanent reflection.
Before you were given the unwelcome gift of constant self-surveillance.
A time when beauty was felt,
Not endlessly observed.
Like a rose,
You would not ask if you were beautiful.
You just bloomed.
You might catch a glimpse of yourself in still water or polished metal.
A blur of features,
A soft impression.
But otherwise,
Your beauty was known through sensation.
Sun on skin,
Water on your body.
The weight of your hair.
The pleasure of oil rubbed into limbs.
The feeling of clothing as you walked.
The response in the eyes of others.
The rhythm of your own aliveness.
Beauty would feel like a remembering of your own sacredness.
And,
As a woman who knows she is sacred,
You would not braid your hair or redden your lips to become worthy.
You would adorn yourself because you already are.
Jewels,
Silks,
Oils,
Linen.
All fruits of the earth freely given for adornment.
The earth giving beauty for beauty.
Gold found in the ground.
Linen from flax grown in sunlight.
Rose oil pressed from thousands of scented petals.
Sandalwood,
Jasmine,
Amber,
Indigo.
Adornment begins in relationship with the living world because it is our natural state.
Beauty felt.
Beauty embodied.
To wear something that moves beautifully as you walk.
To place flowers on a table.
To enjoy how they make you feel.
These are celebrations.
A joyful response to aliveness.
Beauty is not vanity.
Vanity asks,
How am I seen?
Reverence for yourself asks,
How do I honour what I am?
And that feeling of radiantly inhabiting your own skin is simply a way of acknowledging that you are a temple.
A natural celebration.
A divine fingerprint in a world that is full of sacred signatures.
A rosy dawn.
The exquisite impermanence of a flower.
The particular greenness of a new leaf in spring.
The ink in water quality of light at dusk.
The curve of your shoulder.
The smell of summer rain.
You don't need to become beautiful.
Just remember you always were.
Every curve,
Every scar,
Every part of you is part of that beauty.
And now we'll lean in a little deeper.
Gently bring your awareness to the top of your head.
Relax all the tension you find there.
Take your awareness to your hair and notice where it touches your skin.
Let your awareness move slowly down over your face like warm sunlight.
Let the warmth soften your forehead.
The small muscles around your eyes.
Your cheeks.
Let your jaw soften.
This place where you carry so much unsaid.
And let a gentle smile lift your lips into a curve.
Radiating delight as you take a deeper breath.
Now move your awareness down to your throat.
The place of your voice,
Your expression.
Let it be soft and open.
Take that softness down to your shoulders.
You carry so much here.
But it's okay to let it go for now.
Let them drop and feel the space it creates.
Your arms,
Your hands.
Hands that make things,
That tend things.
That touch the world and are touched by it.
Relax your fingers.
Let them fall open.
Now bring your awareness to your belly.
This is the place we hold ourselves in,
Braced against expectation.
Take a slow,
Conscious breath.
Letting the breath move all the way in.
Let your ribs expand front and back.
Let your belly soften and round.
Let it be as it is.
It is beautiful.
Your hips.
Let them be heavy and held.
Down through your thighs,
Your calves and to your feet.
Stretch out your toes.
And then let them relax.
Now bring your awareness to your whole body at once.
Every part of you.
All of it part of your sacred temple.
And you,
A fingerprint of divinity.
Beautiful.
Always.
Always.
And that sunlit smile from before.
Let it deepen now,
Just for yourself.
Let it move like warmth through you,
Body and soul.
And rest here for a moment.
In the quiet knowing that you will always be beautiful.
And you always were.
Now move into the rest of your day,
Carrying that knowing with you.
Beauty always remembers you.
