Pretty/Ugly
We tend to place so much importance on our physical exterior, but perhaps it’s time to turn that awful magnifying glass inward.
Imagine you’re being glamorised by an expert make-up artist but you just won’t stop moving – not for a second and now the eyeliner is all over the place.
We need to sit still in order to be physically beautified and in the same way we also need meditative stillness to make sure our soul remains beautiful.
When are we losing our pretty thoughts and identifying with ugly ones instead?
If you were totally convinced that thinking an ugly thought (envy or resentment for example), definitely meant you would lose some prized part of your appearance as a result, would you keep holding onto it so tightly? I doubt it.
It’s time to become super aware of what is actually going on. It’s not in our best interests to just automatically accept the thoughts that might make us feel lower, darker, moodier.
Perhaps we could play a pretty/ugly mindfulness game instead? Continuously challenge ourselves to make sure we’re keeping our inner face, as pretty as we would like our outer face to appear. Unless you don’t mind being swallowed up by a whole lot of ugly.
Just because you’ve already paid for your ticket and you’re sitting on the negative thought train, please remember there’s a big red emergency button. It’s called awareness. You’ll find it as close to you as your next breath. Take one. A nice deep one. One that hits the bottom of the barrel. All the way down. That’s how you get off at the next possible station.
The negative thought train is not an express and we really can get off whenever we want.
We know it’s easy enough to switch the washing machine off so that it doesn’t complete the cycle. In the same way we can also stop ourselves mid stream while we’re in one of those awful thought patterns and actually switch it off. We don’t have to just keep the motor running. And yet that’s precisely what most of us will do. We tend to just allow the negative mind chatter the right to continue because we’re so used to it always quietly humming underneath the surface – strangely undetectable in one sense and yet so emotionally draining all at the same time.
That’s why we have to become super aware of those ugly streams of racing thoughts, to the point where we realise we have to stop. We must. Or bust.
So sit still, be still. Sit for a moment with how it feels inside of you. Really. Although I can understand why that might seem so impossible to begin with. It can feel like we’re being asked to sit down on top of a garbage dump.
Please remember those “ugly” thoughts are not doing one bit of good for our “facial real estate” value, so why allow them free reign?
Everything is connected - mind and body. That’s true mindfulness.
“If you want a pretty face, then sit with the prettiest thoughts you can think of. And keep them running - at least as long as you allow those ugly ones free reign. That’s fair don’t you think?” - Gorgeous Women, Cristina D’Riviera
