The Beauty of the Season

Happy holiday season Yogis!

 

As I finish up the last minute wrapping, decorating and “fluffing” of the house in eager anticipation of my family’s arrival, I have been contemplating the meaning of beauty.    We use the word so often.  But what is it?  How do we know when we see it……or is it more something we should feel instead of see?

 

Webster’s definition is “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit”.    So although we are a vision driven society, where we are constantly reminded through tv, magazines and ads, what beautiful “looks” like, the definition goes much deeper than that. 

What about the beauty of a poem, how it stirs the heart.  And I remember the first time I went as a child to a large concert hall to hear an orchestra – the beauty and depth of the music brought me to tears.    Or the beautiful aroma of the air after the first spring rain.  The beauty of a rainbow…… just because it is so perfect. 

As we worked with opening the third eye over these last few weeks, it occurred to me that real beauty, the inner beauty of the soul, is seen from this spot, and not through the physical eyes.  Our physical eyes are attracted to what our mind defines as beautiful, but that outer beauty as they say….is skin deep.   If there isn’t a radiance behind it, it fades.  Beauty must have aliveness.  Like when you meet someone who has all of the outer trappings without the inner depth – your perception quickly shifts.  And likewise someone who may not stand out in the crowd,  but who turns and looks you right in the eye, and suddenly their brilliance washes over you like a wave of warmth.  The eyes are the window to the soul.

And who decided that wrinkles and aging aren’t beautiful?  I have been experimenting with this myself as I have taken a 6 month break from makeup.   Removing some of the outer layer that had become my habitual way of having the world see me.  But that really isn’t me.  Instead seeing if I can awaken my inner beauty and have that be what others see when they look.  (I will let you know how it goes J).  And as I look at others I too am trying to see them on the inside. 

So as we enter this holiday week my intention is to open to the true beauty of the season.  To not “look” for it in the bright lights, but to feel it with all of my senses.    Letting it all ‘exalt my spirit’!

Sending joy, lots of love, and beauty directly from my soul to yours,

SARAH