Let Your Face Be Seen in 2014!

As I've been gearing up for No MakeUp May 2014, I've noticed a meme going around Facebook of women posting themselves makeup free, #nofilters.

In light of a similar challenge calling friends to shotgun a bottle of whiskey and any other ridiculous liquid you can think of, it excites me to see this trend taking off, especially now as May is around the corner.

I started No MakeUp May 2 years ago as a way to explore my own relationship to makeup, to see what came up when I put the makeup down (you can read more about it here).  And never to one to do something small or alone, I challenged other women to join me as well.  One was a teacher and shared the amazing story of how when she challenged her own classroom of boys and girls to go with no makeup, it sparked an incredible conversation on how boys see the girls in their class.  It was especially transformative for one young girl who dared to go bare for just a day.

So as May 1st doth approach I invite you to show your courage and go nude - whether a day, a week, a month or for the minute it takes to take a photo.  Either way, answer the survey and follow this blog and together let's support one another as we bare our bare face to the world!

I also invite you to join the "Nude Gallery" by sending me a photo of your radiant face to nomakeupmay@gmail.com!

And here's my own first "naked" photo of 2014:

Mission Accomplished!

31 days makeup free

31 days of having to see

  31 days of finding my power

Then wanting to hide in a faraway tower

But as the days passed by I began to discover

 That underneath it all was my long lost lover

Eyes of clear blue that saw deep in my heart

And spoke words of commitment to the most broken parts

She spoke of my courage, my wisdom, my strength

And to grant me my freedom she would go to great lengths

For this self imposed prison, I've been granted the key

Stepped through gates of love and at last embraced me!

I began this blog journey with a quote from a FAR greater poet - 

"Love is not love which alters when alteration it finds" ~ William Shakespeare

True beauty is seen through the eyes of love and what I've learned throughout this month is that to love myself is to see myself as I am, blemishes and all, and know that I am beautiful.  Advertisers would have us think differently.  "Go ahead love yourself, but wouldn't be easier if you had less wrinkles?  Or dewy skin?"

Now, is that to say that women who wear makeup don't love themselves?  OF COURSE NOT!  

But for some and certainly for me it was so.  

I think of another quote that I have also become more deeply connected with this month.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, GORGEOUS, talented fabulous?  Actually, who are you NOT to be!" ~ Marianne Williamson

See, for me, putting on makeup or finding the right fitting clothes, or shoes, or accessories, or whatever, was all about me saying, 'I have no right to be gorgeous, or even somewhat attractive, as I am'.  Who am I to walk into a room and have people notice?  So I apologize and fix myself in order to fit in, to meet the correct standards so that I can exist in the world.  Meanwhile, inside me there is wisdom and insight, humor and music, intelligence and truth.  But none of that mattered because the package never seemed suitable.  

Now I'd love to report that I have been completely transformed.  That after 31 days of seeing myself I have had a life changing epiphany and will never wear makeup or feel small again but alas, it is not so.  If there's one thing I've learned this month is that, this is a complex and deeply rooted issue.

But I'm certainly not where I was 31 days ago.  Indeed, 32 days ago I knew the only way I could do it was the fact that I had announced to so many people that I was going to do this in an effort to change the world.  I had to put my money where my mouth was and I am so glad that I did.  I realised that it IS possible.  And that there is so much to be learned in doing it.  

I wanted to spark conversations, get people thinking and that has happened.  And mostly I wanted to know that I could truly see myself and not apologize.  I also wanted us to find out what emerges when we start swimming up the stream of perfection.  What would we bump up against when casting aside our makeup or whatever we use to cover our perceived imperfections. 

One strange thing that I did notice, that I can't quite put my finger on, is that I found it easier to truly embrace my reflection without makeup.  Maybe, because I was no longer hiding behind the made up veneer, I was forced to see myself as I truly am and, I have to say, I was kinda happy with what I saw; what I see.  

I am a complex organism made up of many many cells all with their unique function to make me a walking, talking, thinking, feeling, human being.  I am complete with thoughts, spirit, emotion and energy.  My purpose in this world is to awaken the truth in others.  To inspire people to choose life (not necessarily in that anti-abortion way but rather in the, make choices that will move your life forward in the direction you desire way) and choose love (as in love for yourself and love for others cause if you truly loved then you would truly want the best for yourself and for others) in every moment (as in THIS moment because THIS moment is the only moment we have, it is the only thing that is NOW, that is real and that is tangible.  It is in THIS moment that everything can change.  Not the past moment and not the future moment, NOW).  

And none of this has anything to do with what I look like.  It will not change if I'm wearing lipstick or not.  Okay sure, the world will embrace me differently but I choose to believe that I have the power to change that.  One month at a time!

So thank you everyone for your support - whether from the sidelines, or by letting your true radiance show or even by financially supporting the cause that I am also hoping to support - Juno House.  

This has been a great beginning and it is only the beginning.  Stay with me and together we will change the world for the better, for ourselves, for those who went before us and those that will follow in our path.  Let's continue to be the change in a world that so desperately needs truth, love and acceptance.   

What Do You Hate?

Ahhh, it's the classic make you feel better tactic used the world over.  The "I can out self-deprecate you".  How many times have you been woefully mourning the lack of an endowed bosom only to have a friend chime in saying "I wish I had smaller boobs, try buttoning these melons into a nice blouse" or longing for perfect bouncy ringlets only to have another friend cry out for straight hair.  It's the greener grass of beauty.

As I was at my local grocers this week one of the more popular "Celebrity News"magazines popped out at me with an article - "Celebs Confess: What I Hate about my body".  I had to buy it cause I just knew it was gonna give me some great material for No Makeup May.  I paid $5.49 for what I'm sure was intended to make all us "normal" women feel better cause, guess what?

• Jessica Alba hates her boobs
• Jennifer Love Hewitt hates her hips
• Cameron Diaz hates her hair
• Jennifer Aniston hates her butt
• Kim Kardashian hates her legs
• and the one that tops them all.........Angelina Jolie hates her lips!!! Her lips?  How much bloody camera and ink time has been dedicated to her full voluptuous lips?!?!  

There! Don't you feel better?  

These women who we have been told, over and over again, are examples of "true beauty" don't even like parts of themselves.  What the hell is wrong with this picture?!?!  This doesn't make me feel better! I look at their beautiful bodies that have been flaunted in television and magazines and am painfully aware that I look NOTHING like them!  So if they hate what they've got well it's time to start reading "Agoraphobia for Dummies" cause there's no way I'm goin outside again!

But seriously, the saddest part I find about this article that sprawled across the two page spread, over top photos of these beautiful women are the words "I HATE MY...".  How many times have you looked at yourself in the mirror or in conversation with friends and said "I hate my thighs, or my nose, or my ass."  We isolate each body part, creating enemies of our under arms, our breasts, our whatever.

But here's a different perspective, every part of your body is yours to do with what you will.  Your ass did not decide one day to detach itself and go live the hi life while you slaved away at the gym.  Hating it will not somehow magically transform it into the most beautiful posterior the world has ever seen.  How can we ever love our bodies if it is hate that motivates us to alter or improve it?  Don't run 10km, 5 times a week to get rid of your jiggly tummy, run 10km because it strengthens your heart, and stretches your lungs and moves your muscles.  Stop forcing broccoli down your throat so you can "pull off" that sexy dress but because it is what your body longs for in order to function.  

I wish articles like this never made it to print.  I wish it was no longer acceptable to hate any part of who we are.  It's time to make peace with ourselves and to fall in love again with the body that has served us as well as we have allowed it to.  

My challenge is for all of us to spend even 2 minutes focusing in on our "trouble spots".  Then begin to let your focus take in everything around that spot until you are seeing yourself complete and whole.  And from there look into your soul and see the real you - whole, creative, natural, beautiful, potential incarnate. 

The Beauty of Gratitude

Tonight I took my makeupless face to a club to hear my friends band, 8 Bit Dynasty.

 Little plug, download their EP from Itunes for only $2.99!

8 Bit Dynasty

I've known this gifted group of musicians for years, some of them for over a decade.  I met them as students at the college where I once worked as liaison for the music program.  Most of them, at some point, sat in my office and shared their lives, their hopes, their struggles, their dreams and their jokes with me.  Some I worked closely with, toured with, some I watched develop at a distance.  And there they all were together on stage sounding amazing and my heart was filled with gratitude.

Gratitude for the opportunity I've had to be in their lives.  Gratitude for the smiles they greet me with when I show up.  Gratitude for knowing glances when inside jokes are made.  Gratitude for all the laughter I've shared with each of them.  Gratitude for allowing me to be me and gratitude for the music they have brought into this world.

What does this have to do with No Makeup May?  Absolutely everything!  For tonight they were the mirror through which I saw myself.  Tonight I saw myself as the person who inspired them, who they admired, the person they want to share their funny stories with, to make me laugh, the person to be a witness to their greatness.  I am the person who is beautiful without makeup, I am a musician, an artist, a friend.  

I have said that I wish I could see myself as others see me because then I might see myself more truly.  My eyes dart too quickly to the rolls on my sides, the circles under my eyes or the 

dimples in my thighs (huh, that rhymed).  But these people, my friends, see me and I'm pretty confident they think I'm pretty swell.  And perhaps if I spend less time obsessing about every little physical flaw and more time on the love of my friends and the love I can give back to them, then maybe, just maybe, I will begin to see what they see when they look at me.