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| Longer hemlines coming this fall! Stylesight Margaret Howell Fashions |
Quote of the Month:
One morning, a few days ago, I was trying to catch the headlines on the morning news shows. I flipped to one station doing a piece on women's shoes and heard her say, "You know how women love shoes!" and another woman said, "They have a special place in my closet." I know this may be true for some of you! I quickly changed to a different channel and heard, "Next fall, the hemlines will be quite a bit longer again. As little as six months ago, we wouldn't have believed we could like them at this length again!" For a moment I felt as though I had entered the Twilight Zone..... I was Simply looking for the headlines.... not HEMlines...... AND did that woman just hear what she had said?
"As little as six months ago, we wouldn't have believed we could like them at this length again."
Let me clarify that I really do not care if you wear the longer hemline, the shorter one.... or no hemline at all! This blog is definitely not becoming a site for fashion advice! : ) At the same time, I am not anti-fashion. Those of you have been following my posts for a while know that I am not anti-anything. My aim is to be as judgement-less as I can. What I do intend with this post is for us to examine our beliefs, where they came from and ask ourselves if the beliefs we have inherited are truly ours and true for us.
Back to the woman reporting on hem lengths.... here is what I really heard her say.....
"These hem lines are reminiscent of the 1970's. No one has really worn them much since then. I, now, like the length of these hemlines.... The reason I now like them is because someone told me I should like them!"
The Simple suggestion I am making this month is to be AWARE that other people may be guiding your choices under the guise of fashion advice! Is it possible that in an effort to get you back to the stores the fashion industry has come out with a new idea? This really goes much further ..... in addition to people telling you what you should wear...... you can find people who will tell you what to eat, what shampoo to buy, what music to listen to, what books to read, what deodorant to buy, who to vote for, where to live, where NOT to live, what type of car to buy, what type of neighborhood to live in, what job to take..... even what God to believe it. I know I might have crossed a line with that last one, but I think it is important to include it as it is at the center of a lot of issues facing us today.... wars.... dividing us along political lines.... etc.
On this blog, I previously wrote that in some ways this is helpful... in Wilderness of Intuition - June 2009. Since we have many decisions to make every day and many of them are not really all that important in the scheme of things, the media can be helpful in making decisions about these things... such as which shampoo to use (just as an aside, I went to buy shampoo yesterday and was completely overwhelmed with the choices... what just happened to plain "normal" shampoo for "normal" hair??? Not sure how I missed this transition.... but I could have really used someone to tell me which one to buy!)
So - I am not anti-fashion, anti-media or anti-advertising or anti-anything... I simply want to raise all of OUR awareness that many of the choices we may think we are making, may in fact be made for us, or at least influenced by, someone else..... and very often that someone else may not have our best interest in mind.
I always like to start with the Simple little examples.... it is pretty obvious to see that someone "made up" the length that hemlines "should be" in the fall (at least I hope it is!) Here is another example. I remember as a kid using Colgate Toothpaste and that it had "MFP Fluoride!" As a kid, I thought it sounded very impressive and must have some special chemicals or something in there to make it REALLY good! A little later in school I did a report on advertising and found out what MFP stands for! Do you know? I'll leave you hanging for a little while longer.... (further reading on this topic see The Voice, August 2009)
So - what is it I am really getting at this month? I alluded to it in the quote above. We are our own best experts! I want you to learn to Trust yourself.... your own inner voice... your own guidance. I call this "Intuition" and have written about it quite a bit on this blog. That is because it is a guiding force in my life.
In my experience, there are 4 parts to intuition.
1 - listen - tune into and become aware of the mental I-pod/CD/tape or voice that constantly plays in your head.
2 - hear (distinguish) - distinguish the different voices and where they come from. Identify voice of intuition.
3 - trust - trust what you hear intuition tell you.
4 - follow - take action!
Watch for more on each of these in the coming months!
If you would like to do some additional reading on Intuition in the meantime, try:
Wilderness of Intuition - June 2009 - This posts includes some suggestions to "play" with your intuition and some personal examples of intuition in my own life.
or
Be Your Own Guru - January 2010 - This post gives a preview on hearing and trusting.
Finally
Tolle on Intuition - To read what Eckhart Tolle has to say about Intuition.
That's all for this month's addition of Penelope's Fashion Guide! If you have read this far, you know it should be called, Intuition is your Guide... on fashion and everything else!
If you have any examples of intuition in your own life, please feel free to share them in the comments section below. I think it is useful to talk about it and the ways it is working for others as I think we often miss it and don't realize that it was in fact intuition. Or - you can just let me know what you'll be wearing this fall!
Oh, and we haven't had a Question of the month for a while... if you know what MFP stands for (regarding Colgate Toothpaste) enter it in the comments below too. Answer next month!
Keep it Simple!
Penelope
Penelope
