Living Green – Get these Ingredients out of your life.

By Susan Griffin Black, November 2007

Here I am, 51, and in good health. I feel lucky and blessed by what my life has held for me. And though I have always been a seeker, I also feel a deep sense of what it is like to turn the corner to life’s second half and contribute in a way that has heart and meaning.

I have been swimming in a saltwater pool for the past 3 days - no clothes, no make up, no shower. AlI I have with me are my daughter Lucy, my three nieces, two little bottles of body oil and sun block, and a conversation about beauty and responsibility in my head.

I am pondering the constant pressure I feel as a 50 year old to look good, to be physically defined and fit, and in an absurd way to compete in a game for attention and beauty that I cannot win. I am debating how our cultural ideal of beauty diverts our attention away from who we really are. What would this society be without mirrors in our homes and heads?

Then there are the true costs of beauty, time spent in my personal life on personal beauty maintenance, energy and resources spent, responding to the quest for the latest greatest must have enhancer.

I observe my daughter and nieces with the question of what I am modeling for them that’s different from mass culture with a never ending demand for being thin, young, and pretty, ultimately connected to never being enough, which leaves particularly women impoverished, and in constantly need of fixing. If one got lucky enough to have a mother and grandmother who didn’t buy into this, he or she might be one of the few lucky ones and the world might look a little different. However, for the rest of us, what’s the way out?

Then there are personal health and environmental concern - how does what we put on our skin affect our health and well-being and how does it affect the environment? How can we influence the lack of sufficient governmental oversight, and what has to happen to reposition the whole cosmetic industry and to ensure that science meets the needs and values of the consumer, and not the cosmetic companies financial agendas? And most importantly, where are we at EO, the natural personal care product company I co-founded in 1997, to address some of these questions and issues. Are we on track?

The main question is how do we transcend conventional beauty into the notion of wholesome radiance that is empowering and healing and grounded in inner self-worth? This kind of beauty has the ability to solve the root issue of what ails us as a culture and empowers us to heal ourselves and heal the world. Inner radiance and self-confidence makes any being beautiful, from the inside out, no matter the pounds on the body or color of someone’s hair.

I want to talk to women of all ages about beauty. It's taken 51 years to have this conversation with myself, and to distance myself enough from expectations, perceived or real, to come to a place of self – acceptance and even sincere self-love (well, on most days). I am inviting you to share your thoughts and experiences. What makes you feel beautiful? When do you have the deepest sense of beauty? How do you define beauty for yourself and others? Please email me at susan@eoproducts.com.

In my contentment after three days without looking into a mirror, I am watching my daughter swim naked with her cousins, ages 7, 10, and 11, and am mesmerized how beautiful and natural their little bodies are in their various stages of development. And I find myself thinking about all the issues that will arise for my girls. In my worrying for them, I promise myself to keep the conversation going until beauty is defined by inner values, self confidence, and a radiant glow, from the inside out.

Susan Griffin Black is the owner of EO, and a Buddhist practitioner. She is on various Boards of non profit organizations in the Bay Area, and actively involved in her community in Marin County, California.