" Day Of Beauty" and A Dose Of Reality

Today is my third day back in the hospital, riding the bumps along with way, again with no "conclusive reason" why I have had such a violent allergic reaction with a rash and hives. My body's MO seems to maintain an indirect path to answers, meaning no obvious conclusion at the outstart. In the physical realm, we tend to look for cause and effect, but there are many dimensions to "us humans", thus digging for the deeper meanings in the emotional and spiritual realms, often provide more clues for self-healing. A dear psychologist friend of mine, who is also well-read in astrology, uses The Secret Language of Birthdays book (www.thesecretlanguage.com/check/birthdate/) to give him additional perspective on the clients he sees. Whenever I look at the Virgo tendencies, I am always blown away by how accurate they pertain to me - both the good and not so good! Upon reviewing this tool in detail, I was struck with how my birthday, Sept 19, is known as The Day Of Fine Appearance (Those born on September 19 are very much concerned with the appearance of things. Not only their own physical appearance is important to them, but also that of their home, surroundings and family...) . While I did not love to swallow the pill of being attracted to the outer being, the superficial aspects of oneself and others, I had to admit that yes, I am drawn to beauty, to cleanliness, to order - and have tried to keep it under lids for years due to my own inner conflict over the vulnerability of being shallow. Over the past week or so, I have been thinking a lot about this. Of course my birthday is in 5 days and while I appreciate the beauty in my life, a lot has been less than beautiful to the eye recently - water damage to my home, my leg and now my rash. I am venturing out to share this morning's selfie - my first selfie and first "unsightly photo of me!", which shows my being able to be vulnerable to not being so beautiful on the outside. If you are reading this blog, you know what the real me already looks like - and I have grown to like and accept what I look like on the outside. Reason being, I have learned to like the inside of me. In fact, last night, while feeling itchy all over, being unable to sleep with medical interruptions for blood pressures, blood work, medication infusions, I gave myself a self-massage and it felt soooo good! I felt cared for, loved and touched, not only in a physical way, but in an emotional way as well. I have not had much touch contact over the past 6 weeks due to being so vulnerable to re-infection and this reminds me of how important loving contact is critical to us all. In our society, we are taught not to touch ourselves, that it is a bad thing to do and I venture to say that if we would be more in touch with our own bodies, that so many illnesses of the mind-body-spirit would lessen or disappear. We separate the head from the body and most often live in our heads and not in our bodies. Take aways for today: Embrace and enjoy beauty in all forms - the physical, emotional and spiritual Remember that we are souls just residing in a body - we are not our bodies Hug yourself every day and think of loving ways to enjoy touch - massage, cuddle with your loved one or a pet, partner yoga With love, Julie