Inner Facial, Anyone?

Outward Facial Benefits

By no means an esthetics expert, I learned in perusing some free flyers that a professional facial promotes complexion clarity and noticeably glowing skin.  A proper treatment offers the additional benefits of deep cleansing, increased circulation and stimulated skin.  Thus, it can help slow premature aging by custom-targeting your skin care.

Fatigued by my life of details (a term borrowed from the movie, “The Bridges of Madison County”, for those who’ve seen it), I can attest to all these outcomes – and more – as a result of recently investing part of an afternoon within a spa-oasis.  Ahhh……..

Inner Cleansing Benefits

You know how strongly I advocate for extreme self-care – or making regular time for our renewal.  My facial plus massage (OK, I admit it!) certainly fit one half of the bill.  Even more powerful than outer beautification, in my mind though, are the results of devoting time to our inner “cleansing”.

This brings us to a term I coined around 1999, if you can imagine.  Have you ever wondered what a Spiritual Beauty Consultant ™ does?  It means: “A guide (consultant) who helps you make everyday life beautiful (beauty) by nurturing your inner core (spiritual).”  It’s about reclaiming and integrating your True Self (Who You Really Are) into your broader mission on Earth.

• The word, spirit, derives from the Latin spirare, to breathe.  Our breath literally animates us.  As we stay connected to our essence, we weave a sense of purpose into the very fabric of daily life.
• Beauty is about finding joy, wonder and enthusiasm in the so-called “small things”.  In noticing the beauty of every day, we transform ordinary events into extraordinary occurrences.
• Consultancy involves creating an environment that emboldens people to reach their dreams and live their passions.  (This mindset is reflective of how I work with my coaching clients to strengthen them in generating and implementing personalized solutions to their challenges.)

If you think about it, nothing prevents you from adopting the (inner) S.B.C. attitude of finding the beauty in everyday life!

I’m sure we’ve all been exposed to the idea that our external appearance absolutely mirrors what transpires within our interiors.  We likely know individuals who are chronologically “old” but outwardly young.  On the other hand, we may conjure up folks who haven’t lived long, but whose demeanour resembles that of an elderly person.

The Top Ten List

For these reasons, this article’s Top 10 List is focused upon a set of reflective coaching questions designed to promote inner beautification that cannot help but show in your external world:

1. When was the last time you treated yourself to nurturing (a spa facial, massage or other pampering treatment)?  [This one is about your openness to granting time singularly to your well-being – back to extreme self-care.]
2. What (healthy) practices do you choose to engage in to achieve “noticeably glowing skin” [and I don’t necessarily mean eating right or exercising]?
3. How often do you think nourishing thoughts?
4. What kind of mental “cleansing” is required to rid yourself of anything that prevents you from standing in your True Self?
5. To what extent do you see and/or look for the beauty in every day?
6. What kind of “exfoliation” (removal of that which clogs pores) is required in terms of negative people or situations in your life?
7. What under-the-surface emotions or feelings would you say your face (or perhaps body language) is expressing?
8. Do you listen when your body speaks?  What’s your physicality trying to tell you?
9. What’ stopping you from engaging in a pleasurable pursuit or activity you’ve been meaning to try?
10. Is it time to start or resume working with professional resources to help you take better care of your outer and/or inner “appearance”?

Parting Reflections

I kid you not!  Amongst those mailbox brochures, one catalogue advertised a Self-Esteem Neck Firming Lift.  Now I had heard everything…Self-Esteem in a bottle!  May I suggest that beauty created “from the inside out” is likely more lasting than a topically-applied agent whose life-span is on the order of hours?

Remember these anonymous words: “A young girl asks a wise old woman, ‘How does one become a butterfly?’  With a twinkle in her eye, the old woman replies, ‘You must be willing to give up being a caterpillar.’”