And, how exactly do I propose we do that? The simple answer is by living and expressing your authentic self! But, life isn’t always that simple and easy—or is it? Allow me to start from the beginning.
My personal/business background, in great part, is experienced and expressed through Feng Shui (as taught to me by my Indonesian Grandmother), energy healing, and art. I offer products, art and teachings to assist us in remembering who we really are. I endeavor to help people create balance, harmony and a sense of beauty in our homes and other environments and within the homes of ourselves.
My beauty focused and product-based company Devotional Beauty™, is distinctly colored and influenced by my own experiences and personal journey, which has, in times past, been challenged with a desire to look and feel beautiful. But, beauty, as I perceived it, was unattainable. As you can see by my picture, I don't necessarily fit into the traditional western stereotype of what "beauty" is. And more importantly, I didn’t “feel” beautiful.
I come from a very diverse ancestral lineage, and throughout my life, I have explored each and every aspect of my personal history searching outside of myself for who I was. When I was right here all along!
Let me share a true story that best illustrates my inner conflict as I grew up struggling with my identity and self-worth.
I remember sitting in a car with my friends, watching a handicapped girl walking to the bus stop. I distinctly remember holding my breath as I watched this girl struggle—with her body and possibly with her mind. I continued to be transfixed as she strained to put one foot in front of the other laboring to reach the bus stop—her
end destination.
For some reason, I totally related to her and her struggle. I saw myself in her. I realized that this was how I viewed myself. I don’t mean to correlate that my struggles were as difficult as hers, but rather she served as a reflection of how I felt about myself. When I stared in the mirror, I only saw the handicapped girl in my reflection. Only once in a while would I have a glimpse of the true me, but mostly, I struggled with my self image, always wanting to look like someone else, always battling with what I was naturally given and not fitting into the perfect image (mirage) of beauty.
My search for beauty has taken me to countless cosmetic counters, department stores and hair salons. Sound familiar? I found myself always studying proportions of body shapes, styles and colors and much more. There was only so far I could go externally with what was naturally given to me.
When all my surface-based searching failed to help me, I began to travel to the far reaches of the world and delved into the depth of myself to experience life at a much different and deeper level than ever before. I traveled within and studied the texts of ancient masters of inner knowledge and meditation. I practiced meditation, went to therapy, attended personal growth workshops and trained/studied with healers in the US and Asia. And through all this, and the travels both externally and internally, I learned that for me that it was really all about balance. Living a balanced lifestyle. Balancing the inner world with the outer world. And by doing so, creating a feeling of wholeness and being truly established in myself. Like all things that require balance, sometimes you fall down. But, you must get up and find out how to achieve this balance. Finding your core strength and determining the reality of your own beauty.
So what exactly is Beauty? For me, it is simply individual style and authenticity married with confidence and self love. It is something very similar to art, very personal, regardless of age, size and color—uniquely individualized and expressed. Beauty is not a template or fixed ideal. It is yours and yours only as you perceive it, own it, express it and live it.
My ever-deepening core beliefs and understanding of true beauty are in great part shaped by Eastern philosophy and infused into the Western culture in which I live. I believe beauty comprises a healthy lifes
tyle and honoring of the body, clean eating, belief in something greater than myself, and a positive outlook on life. And let’s not forget beautiful clothes, cosmetics, laughter and style. It’s all a delicate balancing act. Remember it’s about discovering what makes YOU feel good.
I truly do believe in balancing the inner world with the outer world. The inner world is a place of feeling connected to self, an honoring and acceptance of self and others—all without preconceived notions and self –imposed judgment—coming from a place of wholeness and acceptance for self and others. The outer world tends to be a place of busy-ness, mental stimulation, sensory overload and misguided messages of what perfection is. By discarding the stories told to you by others and yourself and by bridging the inner with the outer, creates a place of balance and beauty, allowing us to live in a new place of harmony.
Living a life of beauty can also be complimented by surrounding ones home with beautiful things—from furniture, tapestries, color, artwork and more. Living a life of beauty is helped by offering experiences and gifts to the world and inviting others to join in. Beauty is best reflected in our positive and loving thoughts about ourselves, others and the planet. It is a culmination of what we do for work, what we eat, how we live and interact with others and much, much more. Devotional Beauty™ is living from the inside out and the outside in and celebrating the gift of who we are.
I encourage you, through your own self-expression, to do the same. Remember…
“Beauty has endless forms of expression. Let beauty grow and flower from within and it will naturally expand to all aspects of life.”
Devotional Beauty™ is here to support you on your path to loving yourself, living authentically, and being beautiful!
Let’s start a beauty revolution!
May you walk in beauty,
Chantal