A dear soul in my life ventured to build her home, her haven, on a peaceful spot of land that called to her in Martinsville, Indiana. This sweet space was often visited by her through the process of working with contractors and engineers to bring her heart’s vision to life. On this journey, the previously untouched land held… many… many… dog toys. This was a mystery to my friend who did not own a dog herself nor did it seem likely a neighbor would bring their dog there and leave toys behind with the business of construction happening and steep ravines on either side. This noticing remained a mystery until one day, when the weather was just right for a long visit with the land, my friend found herself drifted off into a deep and quiet state of meditation. Upon opening her eyes, after what seemed like a long or short time, before her in the field was a fox. This fox was joyfully playing with the many toys that it apparently had taken from neighbor’s yards around their country block. You can imagine her delight to witness such an act of joy!

My heart opened wide to imagine this wild being taking moments to cultivate play in their life. Gathering toys, finding an open spot and carving out time to enjoy the moment. This was a teaching from nature I needed for myself as well. In my work I enjoy exploring our wild and natural instincts in parallel with our domestically cultivated life. What are our instincts, our intuitions? How do they guide us? Do they have a deeper understanding of the world around us and how are they influenced by our life experiences? Most importantly, from this interaction, are we remembering to cultivate play? 

It is often before me, can we honor our instinctual nature in practice with living our daily domesticated lives? What does that look like?  How DO we know how much salt to add or what spring coming smells like? What do we do when our instincts are interrupted by fear? Can play guide us back to our heart’s thrum?

What is Beauty Way? My first introduction, outside of my own inner perception, to the concept of Beauty Way came in reading the intro to Susun Weed's book Healing Wise. I vividly remember reading her words and lightly touching the page feeling another spoke the same language as I.

More recently I discovered Colette Baron-Reid's deck the Mystical Shaman Oracle. In this deck exists a Beauty Way card which reads:​
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THE ESSENCE:

The Beauty Way is both a path that you travel on and a daily practice. The path is where you choose to perceive only beauty before you, behind you, and all around you as you journey through life. The practice is where you take action to bring beauty to every situation you are in. When things get ugly, you act to bring integrity and peace to the difficult encounter. When everyone else perceives only darkness, you point out the light and help uncover the hidden treasures.

THE INVITATION:

The Beauty Way invites you to create beauty in your life and to recognize the beauty inside yourself and in others. Stop to smell the roses, take a deep breath, look up at the stars, and recognize the splendor that surrounds you. See the beauty in whatever situation you find yourself in, and you will receive the lesson that life is teaching you in a kind and gentle way.

THE MEDICINE:

Stop trying to fix relationships that you believe are broken. Recognize that things are exactly as they need to be in this moment, and acknowledge the inherent beauty in that. When you understand this, you will be able to bring about the change you want. Do not engage in gossip about the darkness and flaws of others. Be careful not to be seduced by the superficial beauty of a project or relationship you are toying with, unless you are willing to pay a price for it later.

I hope this helps bring light to the curiosity of "What is Beauty Way?" May this appreciation of the beauty of life as your birthrite live in your heart today and always, 💛 Victoria Williams Steen

Wowza! What a joy to sit down and chat with Addie about balance as a creative and what that looks like for me. We settled into her sweet studio in Cottage Home neighborhood this week for a chat. If you haven't visited Addie's studio yet do yourself a favor and stop by... You will be welcomed by a colorful speckle of flowers before you step into her truly magical space. When I walk into Studio Alchemy I can feel the love radiating from the walls and Addie herself. Sometimes life allows us the opportunity to connect to places with a depth of character that is so true and real we can feel it in our bones. This is one of those places. You can check out Addie's blog about our conversation HERE. While you are there you may find other Podcast topics of interest... I have several favs!

   Today I am sitting with the deep importance of seeing each other. This can take some bit of practice as we can tend to see a reflection of ourselves or our past experiences when we are seeking to understand one another in this life.  While the beauty of each other as mirrors is certainly a wonderful art for personal growth there is a deeper sweetness to truly seeing
one another. 

  That being said, it's okay to allow your voice and your Beauty Expression even if what other's see is very different from what you see. A surprising joy about being human is our ability to experience the very same things in very different ways. Much like how even if given the exact same artistic assignment each of us would create a very different piece of artwork in a very different way... and that is a very BeautyFULL thing!

BIG NEWS!!! I have teamed up with our doctor (who is also passionate about recycling and reducing waste) to offer a wonderful program in our dental office. You can read about it here or on our website: www.detaildentalkids.com. I made sure to include some of my favorite resources for sustainable living. We CAN make a difference!!

​Small Changes for a Global Impact. We’re on a mission.

"Here at Detail Dental Kids we care about our impact on the planet and what we are leaving behind for generations to come. Finding green options in healthcare fields can be a challenge but we are up for it! Thankfully, we aren’t the only ones calling for change. We are now working with Terracycle, Crest and Colgate to recycle dental items in our office. We also take the extra steps in our office to recycle daily waste in our back office and breakroom. Since the program began this year, we have already recycled over 250lbs!!

Here’s the thing… We need YOUR HELP! Our waiting room currently has collection bins just waiting for your contributions. We can accept toothbrushes, brush heads, toothpaste tubes, mouthwash containers, floss containers and floss picks. Bring yours by and we will have a fun eco-friendly/biodegradable prize for you to say thanks for helping. So come on over and bring your recyclable dental items with you. We’re doing our part and appreciate you helping by doing your part. Together we can save our planet one toothbrush tube at a time!"
#RecycleEverything #terracycle #doingourpart

Want some other awesome ways you can do to help save the planet? Our Dental Assistant and MRC Myofunctional Therapist, Victoria is especially passionate about doing what we can to better our planet for the children we are handing it down to. She wanted to share a few of her household favorites for a greener daily routine:

Cupless beeswax tealights.

Did you know beeswax emits negative ions that cleans the air of airborne allergens such as pollen, mold spores, bacteria, and some viruses? They do this by attaching to positively charged particles making them too heavy to remain airborne where they can enter your breathing passage making you sick. With these little tealights you get 100% pure beeswax and a lead-free wick? Yes, please! What’s more, you can use your existing candle holders again and again while enjoying the sweet smell of natural beeswax. Once the candle is burned down, place the candle holder in the freezer. Give it an hour or so then you can pop the old wax right out to reuse the holder again.