Beauty After Forty

One of my passions is enjoying and engaging in current movies with my partner. We rarely miss a Friday night at the local theater. Last week, something unexpected occurred while waiting for the feature to begin.

A dynamic and profoundly moving ad came across the screen. I almost choked on my popcorn. It was the Dove® pro-age™ campaign. Have you seen it? As I watched the women in this ad, I was moved by their outrageous statement of confidence, playfulness and courage. These women were truly celebrating their uniqueness. They were boldly and beautifully expressing their essence, ALL of it, onscreen with the world... full out and on their terms (and naked, I might add!).

It was charming, risqué and delightful. These women were boldly going where women their age have never gone before. I was ecstatic. I loved it! Talk about letting freedom ring!

No need to send these women my Rebel Belle Guide to Bold-Self Expression, The 7 Steps to Discovering Freedom – Full Out and On Your Terms! They were doing it, living it, and modeling it for the world to see. These women were making a statement.

“Too old to be anti-aging. This is pro-age, not anti-aging.”

Intrigued, I did a little research when I returned home. I discovered Dove is running a casting call to “Be the Next pro-age Woman.” Dove is asking the question, “Are you pro-age and proud of it? What does beauty after 40 mean to you? Let’s show the world that beauty has no age limit.”

Okay…so I’m not there yet. I haven’t worked on my issues enough to go for posing nude, publicly celebrating my uniqueness with the world, regardless of how bold I am or how much I love freedom of self-expression. However, I’d love to try my hand at answering the question: “What is beauty after 40?”

My response:

First of all, I want to define what beauty is to me.

Beauty is:

B – Being me and believing in myself
E – Embracing my uniqueness
A – Acceptance of ALL that I am
U – Universal oneness with my Creator
T – Timelessness
Y – YES to life!

Beauty is all of these things at any age.

From my personal experience, as we age, our beauty unfolds and expands. We begin to remember who we already are – BEAUTIFUL expressions of the Divine!

Approaching forty, I too began to re-discover myself... and my beauty. I began pondering questions like Who am I? What do I stand for? Why am I here? How do I breathe in as much of life as I can? How do I give back by expressing my essence living on purpose? How do I celebrate myself and my life?

As I’ve discovered and experienced many answers to these questions, one thing remains true and unchanging, and that is where I tap into my beauty. As the saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” How I feel about myself and how I express my uniqueness and beauty to the world depends on how I behold myself.

Beauty is in the heart, and truth is in the heart. Bold and creative self-expression is in the heart. Say YES to your beauty and say YES to your heart!

If you haven’t seen the video, take a look here. Enjoy. Embrace the uniqueness of these women. Embrace their light. Look into their beauty, and know you are looking into their hearts.