This post is specifically to sum up all the reasons why I started this "Naked Face for Grace" project. Please share, this post or any part of it - not for me, but for all the women in the whole wide world.
It's been almost two months since I stopped wearing makeup and I have to say a few things that I have noticed personally.
I have never felt more beautiful. I have never felt more confident. I have never ever ever felt more happiness - true inner happiness.
There are many reasons for my state of happiness - but the removal of my external mask has really tipped it over the edge for me. When I went in there and did some deep digging, I found that through all my mean nasty comments/thoughts to myself in the mirror, I was breaking myself down little bit by little significant bit. Every single day, however many times a day that I looked in the mirror - they all added up to an overall feeling of worthlessness.
I was looking at myself not into myself and even though it was external negativity - about my face or my body - it was anything but loving and honouring to my whole self and the self doesn't differentiate negativity, it's all the same.
We humans, especially women, have become so disconnected from our wholeness.
Our bodies and our spirits cannot thrive together to support us if we look at them as separate.
If you are mean to your external body, your internal body/self suffers too. We are taught and conditioned, mostly indirectly through what we see and hear through - tv, internet, other women, music videos, movies, advertising - to pick at ourselves and quite frankly I think I speak for more than myself when I say "hate" ourselves.
No one ever said to me directly "you are going to hate everything about your body and your face, that's normal." No one ever said "you should never be happy with who you are." Aux contraire - I was always told to love myself, and that I was beautiful! So what happened? It's the definition of those things that causes the disconnect.
Beautiful - what does that even mean? In who's eyes? In who's opinion? We see beauty that mostly equates to - skinny, big eyes, lushes lips and lashes, flawless soft skin. Do we even know what those products are doing to our bodies, the earth/world - and other people who also live in it? I remember saying that I didn't care how bad my mascara was for me, I needed it and I would never give it up. Whoa! What's that all about? I was willing to harm my eyeballs in order to be...beautiful?
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" but who the fuck is the beholder? Us, you, men, other women, society? We got so far away from deciding what we feel good about ourselves because there was 'standard of beauty' - a measuring stick. Do you measure up? If not ya better do something about it, even if it's drastic or harmful to yourself. But I digress...
Now, I have said that I know there are fun, fancy and creative sides to makeup and I'm not denying that. What I am trying to draw everyone's attention towards is our addiction to it, our inability to go without it. The fact of the matter is that a lot of women told me they had anxiety attacks before they posted their picture - and that didn't surprise me at all.
There are so many whys and they are in layers.
Why do we feel panic when someone sees our natural bare naked face?
What is it that we think they will think about us?
Are those things true?
Do pimples, bags, blemishes, short eyelashes, blond eyelashes etc etc etc - speak about who we are as women?
Have you ever judged someone or not wanted to know someone because of a flaw or "imperfection"?
I have had to ask myself a lot of questions in order to move beyond my fears and dissect what was going on for me.
When I stopped wearing makeup and the insecurities started to rise I had to confront them because I couldn't reach for the brush, or the cover up, or the liner or the gloss. I had to dust my true confidence off and buff the shit out of it in order to find the shine it wanted to shimmer and sparkle all on it's own.
I had to brush up on my people skills. I had to work on my eye contact. I had to start shaking hands with people and remembering their names. I was no longer focused on how I looked but rather how I acted. What impression was I going to give out in order for people to see the real me - what is inside?
I had to find out who she was first and that has proven to be an amazing journey.
Who the heck is Grace Edison? What's she all about? Does she really love people, or does she just have a need to fit in? Does she practice what she preaches? Why should people like me, become client's of mine or be my friend?
Now here is the interesting part. When I started to connect with my heart instead of my face (or appearance in general) peoples reaction to me shifted. People who didn't know me from Barbra started to say hi to me and make an effort to get to know me. I decided that I was going to find that inner light and share it with anyone I came into contact with. The results of this were not only a happier me but my close friends started to see it and feel it too and say "wow I can really see a big difference in you Grace. You actually seem genuinely happy!".
That's huge - for your best friends to see it? I mean they have seen me at my worst. They have held me in my darkest times. They hold me accountable and responsible. They know the demons I battle with. They know me better than I have known myself in times of denial and excuse.
We are women. We create life in our bodies. We are nurturers but we haven't been nurturing ourselves. So I ask you this, how the hell can we nurture others? We are needed more than ever, in the state of our dear mother earth. We are called to step up at this time and I urge you strongly to do so. You are needed.
We have been lacking in the self-love department and therefore we cannot be the true Goddess' that we were meant to be. We need to wake up and start taking our power back because a long ass time ago we gave it away.
This Naked Face project is about noticing. It's about reconnecting. It's about loving yourself in your true form without any external props. Wherever you are - you are there and you are whole. If you have fat thighs - you are whole, you are you. If you have saggy boobs - you are whole you are perfect, you are YOU. Getting the better bod, or the shinier face is not going to bring you true happiness. I know - I have been there. (I am not talking about healthy here, or losing weight for health reasons just to be clear.)
Have you, yeah you - ever seen me out with no makeup on, and in my sweaties and thought - "avoid! she's a mess!"
No.
I bet you saw me and sighed a sigh of relief in fact, and thought "oh there's Grace, just being comfortable and doing her thing." I bet you even felt more relaxed.
Now - if you have seen me out and all dress up what would your reaction be? I bet at first it's genuine - "she looks nice." and then you would compare to see how you looked? Listen, I know because I've done it.
The bottom line is that we are keeping our true light, our true potential and purpose all on the shelf - we reach out for it everyday when all we need to do is reach in for it. It's already there. It has always been there we just forgot how to spark it.
I know that this won't resonate for everyone who reads it, but I know that it will for some - because based on the response of pictures and emails and messages I have received I know that WE have already made change - whatever comes from this is gravy baby. We are doing the damn thing.
I am woman....see me shine!!!!
I need to add that if you couldn't send a picture or you just didn't want to - that's ok. You are where you are. Honour that, don't beat yourself up or feel any anger towards me, yourself or anyone else. I'm not forcing anyone here. I put it out there to you to be apart of some change, for yourself of your daughter or just because you love me :) I feel that it's positive and I hope you do too, but I cannot make anyone see what I see. To each their own.
Side note: It was so hard at first to post, or go out in the world without makeup on. It was forced. It was not because I wanted to - or thought it was good for my health, or skin or because I thought I was "pretty enough" to do it or even because it was good for my daughter to see. It was because Lilly Gale asked me why I was wearing it and I didn't have a good enough answer for her - I didn't have one that I liked for myself and nor did I want her to internalize my experience or reasons and believe they were true. If I, as her mother, couldn't go baring my naked face proudly for all to see, how could I expect her to feel proud of her face?
With love and gratitude,
Grace E.
Here is a picture of how wonderful my face has started to look when I let it breath and shine!
Last night I went to a Full Moon women's traditional native smudging ceremony and I can't wait to share that experience with you all! Stay tuned!!!
It's been almost two months since I stopped wearing makeup and I have to say a few things that I have noticed personally.
I have never felt more beautiful. I have never felt more confident. I have never ever ever felt more happiness - true inner happiness.
There are many reasons for my state of happiness - but the removal of my external mask has really tipped it over the edge for me. When I went in there and did some deep digging, I found that through all my mean nasty comments/thoughts to myself in the mirror, I was breaking myself down little bit by little significant bit. Every single day, however many times a day that I looked in the mirror - they all added up to an overall feeling of worthlessness.
I was looking at myself not into myself and even though it was external negativity - about my face or my body - it was anything but loving and honouring to my whole self and the self doesn't differentiate negativity, it's all the same.
We humans, especially women, have become so disconnected from our wholeness.
Our bodies and our spirits cannot thrive together to support us if we look at them as separate.
If you are mean to your external body, your internal body/self suffers too. We are taught and conditioned, mostly indirectly through what we see and hear through - tv, internet, other women, music videos, movies, advertising - to pick at ourselves and quite frankly I think I speak for more than myself when I say "hate" ourselves.
No one ever said to me directly "you are going to hate everything about your body and your face, that's normal." No one ever said "you should never be happy with who you are." Aux contraire - I was always told to love myself, and that I was beautiful! So what happened? It's the definition of those things that causes the disconnect.
Beautiful - what does that even mean? In who's eyes? In who's opinion? We see beauty that mostly equates to - skinny, big eyes, lushes lips and lashes, flawless soft skin. Do we even know what those products are doing to our bodies, the earth/world - and other people who also live in it? I remember saying that I didn't care how bad my mascara was for me, I needed it and I would never give it up. Whoa! What's that all about? I was willing to harm my eyeballs in order to be...beautiful?
"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" but who the fuck is the beholder? Us, you, men, other women, society? We got so far away from deciding what we feel good about ourselves because there was 'standard of beauty' - a measuring stick. Do you measure up? If not ya better do something about it, even if it's drastic or harmful to yourself. But I digress...
Now, I have said that I know there are fun, fancy and creative sides to makeup and I'm not denying that. What I am trying to draw everyone's attention towards is our addiction to it, our inability to go without it. The fact of the matter is that a lot of women told me they had anxiety attacks before they posted their picture - and that didn't surprise me at all.
There are so many whys and they are in layers.
Why do we feel panic when someone sees our natural bare naked face?
What is it that we think they will think about us?
Are those things true?
Do pimples, bags, blemishes, short eyelashes, blond eyelashes etc etc etc - speak about who we are as women?
Have you ever judged someone or not wanted to know someone because of a flaw or "imperfection"?
I have had to ask myself a lot of questions in order to move beyond my fears and dissect what was going on for me.
When I stopped wearing makeup and the insecurities started to rise I had to confront them because I couldn't reach for the brush, or the cover up, or the liner or the gloss. I had to dust my true confidence off and buff the shit out of it in order to find the shine it wanted to shimmer and sparkle all on it's own.
I had to brush up on my people skills. I had to work on my eye contact. I had to start shaking hands with people and remembering their names. I was no longer focused on how I looked but rather how I acted. What impression was I going to give out in order for people to see the real me - what is inside?
I had to find out who she was first and that has proven to be an amazing journey.
Who the heck is Grace Edison? What's she all about? Does she really love people, or does she just have a need to fit in? Does she practice what she preaches? Why should people like me, become client's of mine or be my friend?
Now here is the interesting part. When I started to connect with my heart instead of my face (or appearance in general) peoples reaction to me shifted. People who didn't know me from Barbra started to say hi to me and make an effort to get to know me. I decided that I was going to find that inner light and share it with anyone I came into contact with. The results of this were not only a happier me but my close friends started to see it and feel it too and say "wow I can really see a big difference in you Grace. You actually seem genuinely happy!".
That's huge - for your best friends to see it? I mean they have seen me at my worst. They have held me in my darkest times. They hold me accountable and responsible. They know the demons I battle with. They know me better than I have known myself in times of denial and excuse.
We are women. We create life in our bodies. We are nurturers but we haven't been nurturing ourselves. So I ask you this, how the hell can we nurture others? We are needed more than ever, in the state of our dear mother earth. We are called to step up at this time and I urge you strongly to do so. You are needed.
We have been lacking in the self-love department and therefore we cannot be the true Goddess' that we were meant to be. We need to wake up and start taking our power back because a long ass time ago we gave it away.
This Naked Face project is about noticing. It's about reconnecting. It's about loving yourself in your true form without any external props. Wherever you are - you are there and you are whole. If you have fat thighs - you are whole, you are you. If you have saggy boobs - you are whole you are perfect, you are YOU. Getting the better bod, or the shinier face is not going to bring you true happiness. I know - I have been there. (I am not talking about healthy here, or losing weight for health reasons just to be clear.)
Have you, yeah you - ever seen me out with no makeup on, and in my sweaties and thought - "avoid! she's a mess!"
No.
I bet you saw me and sighed a sigh of relief in fact, and thought "oh there's Grace, just being comfortable and doing her thing." I bet you even felt more relaxed.
Now - if you have seen me out and all dress up what would your reaction be? I bet at first it's genuine - "she looks nice." and then you would compare to see how you looked? Listen, I know because I've done it.
The bottom line is that we are keeping our true light, our true potential and purpose all on the shelf - we reach out for it everyday when all we need to do is reach in for it. It's already there. It has always been there we just forgot how to spark it.
I know that this won't resonate for everyone who reads it, but I know that it will for some - because based on the response of pictures and emails and messages I have received I know that WE have already made change - whatever comes from this is gravy baby. We are doing the damn thing.
I am woman....see me shine!!!!
I need to add that if you couldn't send a picture or you just didn't want to - that's ok. You are where you are. Honour that, don't beat yourself up or feel any anger towards me, yourself or anyone else. I'm not forcing anyone here. I put it out there to you to be apart of some change, for yourself of your daughter or just because you love me :) I feel that it's positive and I hope you do too, but I cannot make anyone see what I see. To each their own.
Side note: It was so hard at first to post, or go out in the world without makeup on. It was forced. It was not because I wanted to - or thought it was good for my health, or skin or because I thought I was "pretty enough" to do it or even because it was good for my daughter to see. It was because Lilly Gale asked me why I was wearing it and I didn't have a good enough answer for her - I didn't have one that I liked for myself and nor did I want her to internalize my experience or reasons and believe they were true. If I, as her mother, couldn't go baring my naked face proudly for all to see, how could I expect her to feel proud of her face?
With love and gratitude,
Grace E.
Here is a picture of how wonderful my face has started to look when I let it breath and shine!
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