Laura had lovely attributes – gorgeous silver hair, bright blue eyes – but she wasn’t magazine-beautiful and her mom had told her throughout her growing-up years that she would never be pretty, so that belief was deeply ingrained in her.
Laura’s best friend Susan was getting married, and Laura was the matron of honor in her wedding. Laura felt certain she couldn’t measure up to her beautiful friend, and the potential comparison she was sure would happen was causing her a great deal of stress as the event approached.
In our work together, one of the things we explored was the many ways that beauty shows up in our physical world, along with the power of the labels that we assign to ourselves. We landed upon a word that perfectly described Laura, one that was a perfect description of both her “inside” and her “outside;” a powerful word she could actually recognize, own, and appreciate in herself.
After the wedding was over, she sent me a photo of her and Susan together with this note: “It was such a beautiful wedding and I’m so proud of this photo. Susan was absolutely beautiful and I was STRIKING.”
My word is EXQUISITE. What’s yours?
