The Gift And Curse Of Beauty

Being born in a body that fits the cannons of what humans perceive as complying to standards of beauty is something I want us to look deep into. 

Throughout history, we have given so much meaning to beauty that our entire consumerist society is based in one way or the other on the acquisition of different versions of it. 

Even our biology is governed by attraction, which is based on what we perceive as beautiful, desirable, attractive or magnetic.

And so when we are born into bodies that are seen and perceived as beautiful/attractive, there is meaning attached to our presence that I am choosing to become fully aware of and that I want to speak of. 

For a woman, being beautiful/attractive/magnetic means that very often she is perceived as a threat by other women and as the object of desire/hunt by men. This is simple, undeniable truth. 

Even though there is nothing inherently wrong in these natural reactions to beauty/magnetism, there is an immense amount of wisdom that we can derive from looking deep into them and from understanding that as the embodiment of beauty, we have a gift and a responsibility.

The moment we become aware of and take full ownership of this gift, this responsibility, is the perfect opportunity to realize that it can actually help us become sources of inspiration and inner peace rather than victims of shallow identification with beauty, jealousy, rivalry and comparison.

From the moment we realize the impact of our presence on other humans and that that impact along with whatever story comes associated with it actually speaks of the other person’s journey, that impact becomes our responsibility. 

Response- ability. 

Because we are the ones who have the ability to respond to the way our presence impacts other beings.

If you are an attractive man or woman—not just physically attractive, but the full spectrum of beauty that we recognize (and I wish we collectively could expand that beyond the limiting cannons we endure today but that’s for another post), when you become aware of the impact of your presence and how that impact may bring up wounds of comparison, not-enoughness, rivalry, un-safety, envy or jealousy—

If you become aware that your presence may make your sister or brother feel threatened or in danger, you can then take response-ability and respond to that impact with compassion, with understanding and with a nourishing presence that can hold her/his wounds so they can be cleared and hopefully cicatrised.

So they can heal and be released. 

Flowers don’t go feeling threatened by each other’s beauty or smell…they rejoice in the inspiration of each other’s cross pollination. 

We live in a society that has taught us to be in constant competition with each other. 

But the truth is we live in an abundant world where there is enough of everything for everybody.

The truth is the sisterhood [and brotherhood] wounds of comparison, rivalry, jealousy, un-safety are ready to be transcended by a new humanity that takes full responsibility for the impact of their presence in each other's individual reality.

A new humanity that is anchored in the understanding of the wounds that we carry as a collective family and the love, compassion, kindness and presence that is needed for these wounds to heal once and for all. 

Your beauty may bring to the surface wounds that cry for healing. 

Mine sometimes does. The magnetism, freedom of expression and uninhibited joy & sensuality of my embodied being has at times been a challenge for others around.  

I have come to understand the blessing in disguise and take responsibility.

Pair your beauty with the compassion and nourishment required for the wounds to be cleared, and you will be a walking embodiment of feminine grace (or a walking embodiment of masculine grace.)

Don’t let the wounds that your presence is awakening hook onto your own wounds of not being loved and not being accepted, of being envied, being cast out and being seen as a threat. 

Allow your own wounds of not belonging to be healed. 

To be loved.

To be cleared by the same compassion that will allow you to hold the wounds that you trigger with your presence. 

And remember, none of this is personal. This is all a trans-personal dance that we get to collectively partake in as we rise as an awakened humanity.