"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that." Lauren Bacall.
Yes! Wrinkles are interesting. So-called 'perfection' is not. I fail to see why any woman wants to change her face to look like someone else. Botox and fillers lead to carbon copy faces, not the beauty of a life lived and embraced. I think of all those women who have shunned surgery and carry their beauty with dignity.
You are unique. Why would you want to change that?
Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself. Coco Chanel
Have you noticed that those people who seem happiest in themselves have a radiance that just shines through? When you are at peace with yourself it shows in your face.
It also shows in the way you interact with others - another type of beauty.
What impact will you make?
This page felt like the big red circle had bounced down to impact on the page. The red squiggle looked like a graph of an earthquake, the record of an impact.
So what's an impact? The action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another. Or a marked effect or influence.
We don't necessarily like to think of ourselves as making forcible contact with others, but sometimes our effect on someone - and theirs on us - can be like that. It can cause a crater, a dent. When this happens, we need to own that. Better to have a 'marked effect or influence' on someone for good.
See the need - then do something.
The world is full of people who give advice. They're always happy to jump in with suggestions for how you should be doing whatever it is you are doing. They can see ahead to what is going to be needed. They know just what problems might come up and how to cope with them. And they're eager to let you know.
The problem is that they don't actually do anything to help.
There's nothing wrong with seeing what is needed, but maybe we can offer assistance to meet that need as well, rather than just assuming someone else will do all the legwork.
Death, expected or sudden, is always a shock.
We are never ready to lose people, even when they've been ill for a long time and we know it's a blessed release. There is always a shock to the system because it is a massive change in one's life. Memories are stirred up. The past is revisited. The lost future is mourned.
An event or a journey?
This is the question asked by Seth Godin on his blog in the past week. Events are one-off, on a certain date, whereas a journey can take a lifetime - and life is our longest journey.
I guess this is another energy question for me. Do you put an enormous amount of effort into something that is fleeting (although it may have outworkings that last longer) or save it for the longer haul? Obviously there are some events that are important, such as a wedding, but the marriage is the journey and therefore the more important part. So often people fall out over things happening - or not happening - at weddings when really that's a fleeting part of the whole.
Choose carefully what you give your energy to.
This is my first post of this week because I've been giving my energy to other things. The summer has finally arrived here in Adelaide and I've been feeling the lassitude that comes with the heat. When energy is in short supply we must think carefully about what we choose to use it for. I had a couple of social engagements at the beginning of the week, and that, combined with the heat, meant that I was a bit wiped out.
So instead of journalling (although I have done a few minutes each day), my creativity has been going into new shirts for Zach. Here's the first one - we call it 'the space unicorn shirt':
How will you leave your mark this year?
What are you going to do that's new?
How are you going to build on what you've already done?
What marks will you leave on the lives of others? Will they be good or not so helpful?
How will you leave your mark on the planet? On history?
None of us leave this life without leaving a mark on others, so let's decided to make it a good one.
