"We are always trying to create an impression. We are never our true natural selves. We express vanity in the simplest as well as most complicated ways...Can you be the natural you? If you can be the natural you, you have overcome your vanities. But the moment you try to project yourself either as a confident or under-confident person, you subject yourself to vanities. Humility is the antidote to vanity. If you can become humble in all situations, then you will overcome vanity." - Swami Niranjan
If you're not sure what this is about, click the two first ities:
When I look outwards to the world, I see beauty all around me. Not just in the obvious ways but in the elements of life that are sometimes label bad and ugly. I love dried flowers, second-hand treasures from the thrift store, paint that's peeling on walls and the plants that grew through cracked pavement. Not only do I forgive the chaos and haphazardness of the these things, I celebrate them! Seeing patches of random colors on the street gives me inspiration for paintings. As much as I love fresh living flowers, I hang their dead and dried pieces as decor and mementos of special memories. I also used the dried, pressed flowers for collages. Every phase of the flower is beautiful and serves a purpose that I'm lucky to enjoy.
Turning inward, I sometimes find it challenging to remove vanity from the way I view and value myself. It's hard to celebrate my beauty when I see frizzy hairs out of place, blemishes or bags under my eyes. However, I currently work from home and it's allowed me to focus on embracing my natural self. Not having to interact with customers or coworkers in-person allows me to let go of many daily beauty rituals that I felt I had to do to be more presentable and successful. I don't need to put on fancy clothes, uncomfortable shoes, make up, hair products etc. I regularly find myself going out in public to do errands with minimal make up, my hair pulled back off my face and wearing casual lounge clothes.
Does this mean I let myself go because I don't put on pants and mascara? As Swami Niranjan mentioned in the quote above, when we stop trying to project an image of ourselves to the world and focus on celebrating and presenting our natural self, we are able to overcome our vanities. Facing the world without make up or a fashionable outfit doesn't mean I've stopped caring about myself, in fact it's quite the opposite. Instead of focusing on the way the world will perceive me, I'm focusing on accepting myself and being comfortable with my imperfections. I get really happy when I have positive interactions with strangers while dressed down. To me, those interactions are more sincere and meaningful then the attention I receive when I'm all dolled up. It reminds me that the most important beauty I possess is inside my spirit and radiates through my smile.
Swami Niranjan also reminds us it's important to stay humble. For me, humility can be best paired with gratitude. When I'm struggling, I often think well, "it could be worst". As negative as that cliche is, it holds some truth. I don't think there's value in comparing good to worse, but the quote does help me put my pain in perspective. It reminds me that whatever pain or situation I'm going through, I can find positive things to be grateful about. When I look into the mirror and see things I don't like or when I think about things I've done and gone through that I am unhappy with, I try to accept whatever it is, let it go and then focus on appreciating and loving the positive facets of the situation. I try to extend the acceptance and love I have for the world around me in towards myself. One way I do this is by keeping daily gratitude journal. I used to write it down in a physical journal but I recently discovered an app that allows me to add a photo to my list as well. It's a fun and engaging way to take a moment everyday to reflect and be grateful, check it out on their website: Gratitude 365.
My hair may be frizzy but I love that I have a head full of long thick, healthy hair. The yellow flowers could be more symmetrical but look how lovely the differences between each petal looks. The tattered phone book is trashed and forced to hang miserably from the forgotten pay phone but I was drawn to photograph the spewing array of uneven crumpled papers. There's beauty in the chaos, the discarded, the broken, the dark, the awkward. I'm going to end this post with a quote from a poem I learned while attending a Waldorf Education school (also known as Steiner education, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner who is the founder of Anthroposophy). This is just the beginning of the poem that we used to say aloud every morning before class. I still have it memorized and it reminds me of the precious existence of the world, my body and soul. The immense beauty of the universe is a lot to take in and I may never be able to fully wrap my head around all the wonders that exist inside and around me.
“I look into the world
In which the sun is shining
In which the stars are sparkling
In which the stones repose.
Where living plants are growing
Where sentient beasts are living
Where human souls on earth
Give dwelling to the spirit.”
Thanks for reading, FJ