Beauty is described as something that pleases the aesthetic senses. Creating and honoring beauty is a big piece of what I am here to do in this lifetime. Noticing beauty keeps me going in dark times — experiencing awe and my own gratitude for that awe is the juice of life. The word ‘beauty’ gets a bad rap because there’s this bullshit, patriarchal industry around it, and that’s NOT what this post is about. It’s about conjuring and discovering true beauty that is in and around us.
At the first day of every month, I share a vibe for the month ahead — and as you can tell, April’s round-up is about beauty. These monthly posts include my curations of poetry, music, art, fashion, beauty, and/or other areas of expression. The full content (including a monthly Spotify playlist!) is visible only to paid subscribers, but everyone gets a taste, especially today, since April 1st falls on our usual Monday posting day… so let’s feast upon beauty together. 🌺
Below, I’ve listed twelve of the places where I find true beauty. I hope this inspires you to discover and to be present to what is beautiful around you, too.
Anything sunset-hued does it for me. How can it not?!
(But like, also starry night skies 🌌! They deserve their own post soon…)
2. Alok Vaid-Menon spoke about beauty (and god, love, death, uncertainty, and all the important things) on their third visit to We Can Do Hard Things last week, and it was wildly inspiring to me. Here’s a snippet of what they said about beauty (click to watch):
Movies are a place we can experience all sorts of beauty… the burning love on the intense beaches in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a colorful, quirky, symmetrical Wes Andersson masterpiece like Moonrise Kingdom, the awe and mystery of My Octopus Teacher, nearly everything about Amelie, the images and poetry of Lemonade, etc…!
You may have noticed that I usually cannot get through a post without mentioning my favorite poet,
, and they certainly belong in a post about beauty. They are beauty. Just spend a moment reading their Substack and/or watching their Instagram reels. You’ll feel what I mean; you’ll see what I feel.As you might remember, I’m almost halfway through my ninth year participating in
. My project this year is to notice god/love/divinity/magic (same/same/same/same/same) in my day-to-day life, and you can find it via my unique hashtag on Instagram: #100daysofholylove. It’s honestly keeping me sane to place some attention on these beautiful parts of life.These days, I am celebrating the beauty that comes from the inside out, from people radiating confidence and basking in their element. I’m relating less and less to “beauty” that is imposed by social norms, winning the male gaze, rote gender performances, or unattainable standards for appearance. In one of the upcoming Monday prism posts, I’ll share a personal story/ongoing evolution about this piece.
I’m a longtime fan of
and all of their work — from writing to dancing to art to quilting to photography to teaching. One of the most inspiring pieces of their offerings for me has been an old Instagram feed of theirs called Personal Practice with dancing videos. It’s so freeing, inviting, and beautiful in that true beauty way. Visit. Dance. Oh wow, I just realized that this is the third non-binary person on my beauty list — because I find breaking binaries to be so damn beautiful!