I just sat down to write about the word beauty and the TV is on. I look up at it and one of the girls is taking a selfie and states “I need Instagram to know that there is still beauty in the world”. Beauty is a word that is used frequently to describe the quality of something. If you look up the word beauty it is typically related to the qualities a person possesses that makes him/her beautiful. In the world I lived in for many years, I defined beauty based on images. More specifically the image that I saw in the mirror every day compared to the other people I interacted with, saw in passing, on the TV, and in magazines. Those people had beauty but that image I saw in the mirror did not measure up.

I was reminded tonight during a chat that beauty is more than just image. It’s about feeling beauty outside of ourselves. Beauty is our life, our soul, the air that we breathe, nature, what is true to you. Allowing ourselves to feel the beauty that we see and feel outside of us is like medicine. Once I was able to stop focusing on the image aspect of beauty, I was really able to see and feel the beauty outside of me. Beauty to me is sitting in a garden of flowers, being out in nature, sitting with a cup of coffee, the smell of rain. Allowing myself to see and feel that brings a calmness and peace with it. I am able to exhale the anxieties, stressors, and challenges in order soak in the medicine that is leaning into life.

What are some things that you may need to exhale? How do you see and feel beauty? What can you allow yourself to rest in today?