The Luxury Beauty Myth

I will never forget walking off the plane in Australia- a life long dream come true.  I literally grew up with images of Australia landscape & wildlife on my walls.  As I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, & breathed in the air, I swore to never take one moment for granted.

Fast forward 8 months.  Without realizing it the ocean became an “of course”, the whales migrating became no more magical than the Canada Goose returning to her nesting grounds.  Breakfast at a Cafe overlooking the ocean, jet setting the country for speaking opportunities; all of it became another day.  It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, after applying for Social Work jobs, I decided that I just COULD NOT WAIT to get back on Canadian soil. I ended up making my way back to Canada after a year & as soon as my feet were back in the icy December air of Ontario I realized something: I took the majority of my time for granted.

This isn’t simply because I am an ungrateful jerk, Positive Psychology shows that happiness does not lie in changing our life circumstances, getting more money, or changing our appearance. These changes are unlikely to be long lasting to our overall well-being & happiness as humans naturally, and rapidly, adapt to positive circumstantial changes.  And, as much as our ego wants to discredit this and say “I would be happier in a yacht than my apartment in Ontario!”, the reality is celebrity after celebrity shows that money alone isn’t enough to make us happy.  I will never forget hearing about Robin Williams taking his life.  Growing up with him, watching Mrs Doubtfire with my grams, he seemed like the epitome of happiness!  A celebrity, wealthy, famous; he appeared to have it all.

Frank Lloyd Wright observed: “Many wealthy people are little more than the janitors of their possessions.”  And Sonja Lyubomirsky says “You too can become a janitor of your possessions, if your goals primarily revolve around material things.  Indeed, not only does materialism not bring happiness, but it’s been shown to be a strong predictor of unhappiness”. 

And you may think “but the coaching industry is different!” and yet I have witnessed countless multiple 6 & 7 figure entrepreneurs walk away from the industry with their mental health worse off & more unhappy than ever, trying to keep up with unrealistic standards.  Or women keeping it together for socials but falling apart behind the scenes.  I say this with no judgment, the reality is we are all doing the best we can at any given moment, and I have been there as well.

This isn’t a post about shaming the luxury industry or those that lead with a luxury lifestyle, or even a post shaming those that desire that.  This is also not a post about living your life in poverty.  I truly believe great women are going to do powerful things in this world through their work & supporting charities close to their heart.  In fact, I believe that we MUST be wealthy to create change on this Earth, as money not only speaks but is also required.  I am presenting a lens to look at the energy & intention we enter it from.  What is the energy and intention you are chasing wealth, beauty, MORE, from & is it in service to the conditioned mind or your true path.  Do your goals revolve around materialism, getting more, earning more, bigger, faster simply to keep up with the Jones or prove something?  The reality is that it IS easy to get caught up in this within the online spiritual & coaching space, losing sight of your original intentions, desires, & goals.

What this post IS about is encouraging readers to discover your personal calling & disconnect from the popular narrative to find your truth. From here you can uncover the unique gifts that you bring to the world at this time – a path to understanding your own individual mythopoetic journey through this life. As Ra Uru Hu says: “When you are on your path the environment takes care of you”.  I truly believe this.  This is where a life wilder than your dreams is born because the conditioned mind is chasing what it believes to be true based on what it sees or knows.  Your destiny & unique gifts reside in the unknown.

What I bring to you is this:

How can you be truly happy NOW, not so that you can earn something or receive something, a common fallacy I see in the gratitude universe (Do gratitude so that you receive more), but truly happy in this current moment.

I will leave you with this:

“Happiness consists in activity.  It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool” ~ John Mason Good.

The cultural conditioning & toxic feminine paradigms built a damn in your stream, stopping the flow of water.  It blocked the natural flow, creating stagnation, with both upstream & downstream impacts.  From here the only way we often perceive as “out” is through MORE, more money, more pushing, more doing.  What if the way out was removing the dam?  Removing the source of stagnation & allowing water to flow once more.

Ashley

(For The) Sacred Rebel