I was listening to George Mumford the other day - Mindfulness Coach to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
He was talking about ‘knowing thyself’. Knowing how our mind works. How important it is to look at the separate components we are made of and how we operate, as well as looking at ourselves as a whole..
When we know we have a brain and a nervous system and we know that having fear, doubt and insecurity is the nature of being human. We know that it’s normal to have anger, we know we are going to get old and sick. If we know that, and we know that’s the human condition, then maybe when it happens to us, we don’t have to take it on as something we did wrong, because it happens to all and every one of us, there is nothing personal.
I translated it into our appearance. When I look at myself, I tend to look at my body scientifically - I take it apart and then look at it as a whole.
I look at my face shape, my shoulder line, my calves, waistline, etc. I know there are lots of others with similar face shapes, similar shoulders and calves. When I take myself apart and put back together, I am starting to know my shapes and what styles work best on me. It helps me get more objective and I don’t get caught up in the never-ending comparison game - there is always going to be someone with a smaller nose and with a bigger one. Someone younger and someone older. All I need to know is how to bring my shape into balance, scientifically speaking.
Want to know how I analyse my face shape?
When I look at myself in the mirror I know I am beautiful.
When I analise separate face features I know I’ve got:
Narrow forehead. I need some vertical volume above my hairline to add to the width of the forehead.
Straight hairline.
Straight eyebrows. The combo of straight eyebrows and narrow forehead = no fringe for me
Small-ish eyes. I welcomed my aging eyesight and the need for reading glasses. Reading glasses = eyes appear bigger (I was perfectly happy with my small eyes before, but always nice to find the silver lining, right?)
Big-ish nose. When choosing the glasses for my face shape - I go for a lower bridge - which means there is quite a lot of distance at the top of my frames as well as at the bottom.
Square-ish jawline. When choosing shirts I go for softer collars, rather than a traditional shirt collar.
Angular face features. When choosing the frames, I go for rounded shapes Vs angular shapes.
You see, one little face (literally, my face is quite small) - so many things to notice.
I DON’T worry about the new wrinkles I’m getting - those are the lines of wisdom and smile lines. I DO assess my appearance objectively.
Why? Because when something we see is out of balance, we do get distracted, whether it’s conscious or unconscious. And I value being heard and listened to, so I want to help the person next to me to hear and understand me fully, without any obstacles.
We’ve all got important messages to deliver, so let’s help those next to us concentrate on what we are saying. There are enough distractions going on with smartphones and never-ending lists of things to do.
