Your face holds the stories of who you are, and where you’ve been. They are the stories that lie deep within your bones, your cells, your very being. These stories might not be visible to the eye with a look or a glance; those who see you may be completely unaware of how much you hold inside. Of course your whole body holds your story, but there is something extremely tender about how your face holds your pain,your joy, your excitement, your fear, and so on. When you cry, the tears fall down your cheeks. When you laugh the sound comes from your voice, but your smile lights up your face. When you give and receive love, so often your face is a deep part of that connection.
Do you truly take time to notice yourself and tenderly care for your body?
I see myself in the mirror every day. I comb my hair, brush my teeth, wash my face, put on my make-up and go about my day. And I think very little about my body, nor how much better I feel after I care for myself, because doing these things are a normal part of the day and often done in a rush. But today, I paused for a moment as I dabbed the face-soap onto my hand and looked at my face, and said to myself,”Hey, there.” As if it was the first time I’d seen myself in a long time. And I thought,wait a minute why does this feel so strange?
I looked down again at my hand with the soap, and came back to reality: the task at hand: Washing my face. I had to think for a second though, 
how do I do this, wash my face? Usually I turn the water on first, rinse my face off, and then put the soap on my fingers. But not this time. Maybe I was being more intentional about connecting with myself because of my glance in the mirror; or maybe it was the sensation of splashing water on my face with one hand. Whatever it was, I paused, gently began to rub the soap along my cheeks, and suddenly became profoundly aware of the connection between my fingers touching my cheeks and my face receiving the tenderness of my touch.
As I stood there with my eyes closed and moved my hands around my face I began to have a knowing of my face through my finger tips: my cheek bones, my brow, the softness of my skin. The touch of my fingers awakened me to understanding why my glance in the mirror stuck me. I so often forget to take care of myself, and offer myself gentleness and love. Touching my face with this love, intentionality and awareness connected me to my life, my story, who I am right now. This is the face people look at, and see through their eyes. My face quite often is how people remember me and make sense of who I am at first glance. But as I washed my face, I realized this wasn’t what was speaking to me. Touching my face with this gentle love, became less about how I was going to look to the outside world, and more about the deeper parts of me.
Love and connection.
- Touch your face and be mindful about each and every bone, curve, bump
- Hold your face in your hands for as long as you need to, to really feel and be aware of your story within.
- Send yourself love, reverence, compassion through your hands, and thoughts
I’m learning and working on loving myself better every day. Sometimes I’m not so good at it, other times I get a gold star for effort. Today, I learned something important for me. To release the pain, the stress, tension I need to touch my face with intentionality and compassion. I need to hold my face in my hands and focus my heart and my thoughts towards self-love and reverence.
Usually, washing my face is a daily task, but I am going to be better at being mindful to practice it as a ritual. (I’ve included washing my face as part of the ritual to help me sleep at night, but never with the intentionality and mindfulness I am starting with today). Not only will washing my face be a ritual of letting go of the things that I want to wash away, so that I can find peace, but it will also be a symbolic action and mindfulness towards self-love.
Ahhh…I am already beginning to feel better.
How about you?
What do you do to offer yourself self-love: loving your mind, body and spirit?
Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
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bellableue.com 
Loved reading this post Erin. Am smiling sitting here. YES – I have discovered the same… not only with face but with entire body. Living with chronic pain has led me down the path of caring for myself in such a tender/nurturing way that it might seem odd to an onlooker. Everything is ritual. I often wish it wasn’t necessary but I have no doubt this has been my most powerful survival tool. I go self massage – long am showers… pre-bedtime baths… and more. Self Love is just as (or more) important than loving one’s child or partner. Took me a while to get this and I’m still learning. Thank you so much for this lovely post reminding me of the value of self-appreciation and care ~ you are an inspiration indeed~ Much Love, RL
Thank you for always sharing your words and your wisdom. It is so wonderful that you take the time to care for yourself. The day I wrote this I was in the middle of having one of my migranes…but thankfully it only lasted that day. I’m discovering new ways to care for myself too. Like you say I too am still learning. Hope you are well. Blessings on your evening, Erin
Thank you so much Erin for this wonderful post. I really loved it ❤
I'm sorry I wasn't much around the Blog this week and I might have skipped some posts (I will catch up now). I just posted yesterday night and thanked you for the Sisterhood award ❤ Thank you so much Erin ❤
Sorry I forgot to put the link:
http://nikkysstrengthandweakness-nikky44.blogspot.com/2012/06/after-all-progress-i-have-done-since.html
Great post, the window of one`s soul is through the eyes. One can tel a lot about some one when u look in there eyes. Reading a face, i am not to good with that but the eyes, yes.
Thank you 🙂
It is a pleasure to come to your blog and read what u have to share.
Thank you. I am glad you enjoy coming here. Blessings to you always, Erin 🙂