If every woman in North America abstained from buying a beauty product for one week, the multi-billion dollar beauty industry would collapse to the same degree as the airline industry collapsed after 9/11.
As Western women, we are obsessed with skin deep beauty and youth, to the point that often we don't even focus on developing our inner beauty, which can shine through and make us more beautiful than any type of aesthetics.
Don't get me wrong, at age 51, I am all about aging gracefully and doing whatever I can to support healthy aging. But when our self-worth is based on youth and physical beauty only, then we are dishonoring ourselves as women and diminishing the true power we possess as women. It is almost as if women are attempting to be cheap replicas of beauty & fashion models, when it is the exact opposite, models are cheap replicas of women and our true worth and beauty.
"Unless we strive for an expanded, more compassionate vision of age and aging, the achievements we seek here are at best cruel mockeries of our pain-filled efforts" - Marianne Williamson, "A Woman's Worth"
The French believe a woman doesn't even blossom until age 40, yet at age 40 woman are doing everything they can to not look 40. If you think about a woman's journey thru adulthood and the wisdom that comes from career endeavors, marriage, divorce, child rearing, and general hardships, these are the experiences which make us even more beautiful and valuable.
When we focus on only our external beauty, trying to look as young as possible, not only are we doing a disservice to ourselves by not sharing and living from our inner light and wisdom, we are depriving the world of our gifts. When we honor our true worth by sharing our wisdom and hearts, we then give other women permission to do the same. Sharing our true beauty by shining our light is what we are all being called upon to do in the world. So the next time you are focusing on enhancing your external beauty, let that be a reminder to also develop your divine feminine beauty from the inside out!
The light within that comes from knowing at a deep level the truth of who you are - that is your real beauty!