“Beauty” - a concept?
Edging on raw.
Every time I am away from the U.K. it is always interesting to me to recognise the difference in beauty standards. Having been brought up with European beauty standards - which I did not meet - it is always fascinating to take a step back and observe the conditioning of the mind, how boxes are secured on what is awed at as physical beauty, and to reflect on the different aspects of appearance which are appreciated amongst different cultures.
I have not been one for trending body/face types - quite the opposite. I used to be drawn to “different” - to what I thought were the qualities that made individuals unique. I still am, however, I also like to see the absolute beauty within every being. What I tend to veer away from is a trend. Perhaps it is because I like to see a persons soul smeared all over their face.
Talking on trends though, and speaking specifically as a woman, these pressures are constant. Once upon a time I would look at myself in the mirror everyday and fall into a dangerously dark headspace drawing on “not enough,” societal expectations vs my reality, placing flaws in every space available. This went on for years. To think, I was operating on high impact levels of survival mode factors for so much of that time that I could not have even prevented a lot of these “flaws” if I wanted to.
It is deep healing over years which has allowed me to venture into that abyss and finally be able to remove the guilt and shame (to a degree at least.) Also, intriguingly and liberatingly, including the shame that existed in wanting different from myself when society often taught that you “should” be grateful for what others do not have (a questionable attitude towards gratitude it might be argued.)
The difference now is the depth of which I have travelled into myself and found the Highest existence of beauty there. Divine. Within and without.
Still, there are niggles. However, now there is also an immense amount of gratitude which has less to do with the “lack” faced by another and more to do with knowing everything my body has soldiered me through. The scars also do not meet the beauty standards which surround me. However, they remind me of my journey and its lessons. My purpose. The path of my soul.
Upon reflection I realised beauty to me has been within the unexpected rose bushes adorning a concrete wall, the unexplored landscape within a persons deepest desires, the touch that brings you a warmth only otherwise felt by the sun.
In Bali a native woman said she liked a feature of mine which I have been taught not to like (based off those European beauty standards I have been brought up around) and I couldn’t believe it. No one in the U.K. (other than an ex-partner) had ever given that specific compliment. It draws me back to this idea that beauty is an industry, luring society to invest in being something else, something that is supposedly more wanted, something that is supposedly most favoured. Away from wanting and desiring itself in its rawest form of self.
None of this is to say I am against any procedures etc, nor that I have not had/would not have such done. This is an article on my reflections of one aspect of something that I absolutely love to reflect on - BEAUTY.
When you feel like you’re not enough or like you’re too much, it is often the case that you must break out the box and tear down the walls of where you have been confined. Once you do this your mind will expand and your lungs will breathe in life force energy of a new kind. Throughout it all not forgetting to keep that heart as open as possible to Divine love.
~ Jyoti 🌹