High-Heeled Guru

When I need a little “sense of self” pick-me-up, I turn to my outfit. I know this sounds a bit corny and superficial, but surprisingly, it always seems to works wonders for the day. What’s even a greater surprise is that I was one of the biggest non-girlie jocks most of my life. It wasn’t until I started African dancing on Kauai that I got in touch with my more creative, feminine side.

Normally, I run out of the house in the morning dressing in record time. I’m always rushing. Always. I pull out of my closet simple and mostly appropriate clothing for my work environment. On most days, I don’t give my outfit much thought except for the weather conditions. This morning, while standing under a fountain of warm water in my much-to-be-desired shower, hoping to wake up, I thought about wearing one of my new pair of boots.

Now, this isn’t your average pair of snow boots. These are my high-heeled, black leathered, knee-high boots with a wide-strapped leather band over the top part of my foot, pulled into a silver circular buckle down by my ankle. I love them. I feel fabulous in them.

Because I wanted to wear the boots, well, feel fabulous today, it only made sense to wear a skirt. This is always a safe choice when I looking to feel more flavorful. At first I went for the fitted black skirt, which would have been an obvious, predictable choice, but since I’m being honest here, I didn’t choose it because it needed to be ironed and I didn’t have time for that. I continued to shop through the skirts I had hanging in my closet since no ironing would be required, and found a pleasant surprise.

More than three years ago, my husband and I traveled to the Ivory Coast, West Africa, to visit with his family for the first time. He hadn’t been back to his country since he left ten years prior and now he was bringing his wife. Yikes! We had a wonderful trip and one of the best parts was shopping in the markets and buying a bunch of African fabric. Set up on the streets in market-style are a number of tailors and we both had some clothes made with the fabric. I chose mostly skirts and today I put on one of them.

So with my fabulous black boots I slipped on a hip-hugging, black-brown-white-silver African-printed skirt with a yummy-feeling black turtleneck sweater and a chunky necklace strung with black-brown-silver-beads and a large, circular and silver pendant.

Perfect.

It’s amazing how an outfit can help me to feel more alive today…more like my Self.

Speaking from the girl who still carries around a wallet as her purse, never would I have thought I would blog about an outfit, but if you read between the lines, today’s entry isn’t really about an outfit. Is it?

“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.” —Mitsugi Saotome; Aikido instructor, author