FLICKING THE SWITCH
How we feel about ourselves may be caused less by a sense of our beauty and more by our innate energy.
Our ‘chi’ changes daily.
It reacts to different situations, moods, people, events, illness, lack of sleep. You get the picture!
When we get dressed our choice of clothing may reflect our energy at that moment, or the situation we find ourself in. Either way, we probably have a favourite way to dress ourselves. It may be a particular style or certain colours that dominate our wardrobes.
Even if you have your Style Statement nailed, wearing similar styles or colours on a day to day basis could make us seem stuck in our ways.
Older
Dated
Predictable
Bored (or boring)
According to Master Lin Yun, in his book ‘Living Color’ co-authored with Sarah Rossbach, we will benefit by varying our clothing ‘palette’ daily. If, like me, you only choose dark sombre colours, it’s a good idea to select a lighter or brighter one – just now and again. The opposite is also true. If you love bright colours, have a day wearing softer ones. Swap dark for light, shiny for matt, patterns for plain, cool hues for warmer ones. No need to choose those that don’t flatter. You could opt for accessories instead, or add accents seen or unseen. Linings, or lingerie, for example in a colour you may not wear on show.
Some colours elevate our ‘chi’ while others suppress it. As our ‘chi’ changes daily it makes sense to tune in to our inner feelings as well as the other important considerations of fit, fashion, how flattering they are and the occasion.
Flicking the switch, and moving between high and low, bright and soft, dark and light balances out your energies. When you live in your headspace, you need to ground. If you are too much of a perfectionist, you need some fun.
As my word of the year is ‘open’, I decided to follow my advice, put down any preconceptions and buy something that ignited my spirit. Lo and behold, this sweater appeared. The colour green represents the Wood element, which is also happens to be my essence. Bella Freud’s 1970, a reference to the punk era, adds some fun (fire element, my influencing essence). As you’re probably aware by now, I don’t usually wear green but ever since I purchased this sweater I’ve been really drawn to wearing it. Wood is the DO-ing element, and in my last post I wrote about how I wanted to be more grateful for what I can do, rather than how I look. Choosing green feels so right for me at this time.
Here’s the Thing: Maybe actively encouraging some flexibility in your wardrobe can enable you to be more flexible in life.
Being ‘open’ is changing many aspects of my life, not just in my styling but in tackling the more challenging areas of my existence. More to come in the next couple of posts.
Flick the switch. See what happens.