"It Took Me Who I Was..."

My title words are not original. I borrowed them from Aaron Neville's song titled "To Make Me Who I Am".

The complete quote states, "It took me who I was and where I've been to make me who I am".

Aaron's words resound for me. They always have. It's a shame that I don't know how to put his amazing voice right here for you to feel the lyrics through-out your entire being.

When I first discovered my passion in the field of esthetics and holistic beauty, people often looked at me and assumed I had an easy road. They saw me as being physically attractive (by society's standards), and concluded that beauty equaled success. Sad statement on society but, in some ways, they were right. Yet, as everybody does, because we are all human, I encountered some really bumpy times.

Interestingly, as long as I felt I had enough control of the bumpy times to make people think everything really was an easy road for me, I was able to maintain the physical facade that people around me had come to expect. However, once the bumpy times became really steep, craggy ridges - come on, we have all been there; we all have our burdens, our crosses, to bare - and I could no longer hide behind an act; when I could no longer look in the mirror and truly believe I was beautiful, when life got in the way of the facade, people around me began to see how human I am.

That's a down-side of the American view of beauty: once you hit a tough spot in the road, once you reveal that you are real, once you give in to the weakness of being human; then you are judged. Then you find yourself faced with the decision either to fall victim to the cruel joke society has played on you, or to reach inside of yourself and find your true beauty: your grace... your strength... your true self.

You can give up, or you can nurture your whole being - mind, body, and spirit - and reveal your inner goddess, your true, timeless, ageless, beauty.

I chose the latter option. I chose to make an art out of the practice of self nurture. I have not traveled an easy road. To the contrary, my road to revealing my own inner goddess has been paved with many obstacles... and my journey is not nearly over. I am embarking on another difficult little detour in the game of life right now. And, I am just coming out of some very diffucult obstacles, as well.

I am choosing to share my journey with you, so that, no matter how difficult life gets, you may know that you are not alone. I hope to provide inspiration in your weakest moments and strength in your toughest moments. I want to instill in you that you truly are a strong, graceful, beautiful goddess, and that every scar, whether physical or emotional, adds to your unique beauty. I want to be a guide on your journey to seeing, accepting, and revealing your inner beauty.

Until next time, blessed be... ~~h.