"Easy Beauty" and "Difficult Beauty"

What’s the difference between a rose...

and a California Pipevine flower?

(which is only beautiful to the California Blue Swallowtail butterfly). A ballet dancer and a frog? A Mozart opera and one by Philip Glass? The first are easy to find beautiful, the latter require effort. 

Chloe Cooper Jones, in her recent memoir, Easy Beauty—about living in a severely disabled body—compares “easy” and “difficult” beauty, first described by British philosopher Bernard Bosanquat. Easy beauty, he says, is simple, immediately apparent, and affords a straightforward pleasure. But difficult beauty asks more of us: curiosity, time, patience and a degree of concentration. Difficult beauty may disrupt your habitual ways of thinking and evaluating. 

As anyone who goes on a walk with me knows, I’m a sucker for easy beauty of the visual kind. I spot a pretty flower…and click! I’ve caught the photo, and now I’m done with it. I don’t wonder how it got to be there, why its petals or leaves have that pattern, whether it’s important to the survival of another species because of its color or fragrance, and so on. 

And yet, whenever I put in the effort and time to understand something at a deeper level (a flower, a book, a piece of music, a person), I’m always rewarded, often in surprising ways.
Eyes like these are easy to look into:

When I do a color analysis, I set aside my lazy eyes; each client is the day’s “difficult beauty.” They deserve my attention and curiosity (not that some aren’t "easily" beautiful…but not to go deeper is a disservice to them.) Who is behind this face in front of me? What makes them come alive? What do I actually see? Each one is a special puzzle. Whatever my impression might have been when they first walk in the door, at the end of our time together, I see even the most “difficult” beauty as uniquely gorgeous. 

A few clients have told me they’ve felt uncomfortable at being so “seen,” but most bask in the attention, because in daily life it is so rare. Growing up, I never felt fully seen by my parents. They loved their “idea” of me, but the real me was a mystery. This may be why I feel so fortunate that my work gives me an excuse to deeply see someone …and (I hope) have them see the beauty that I see.

In which the see-er gets seen.

Last week my older son, the one who lives in France, turned the tables on me. He was on a brief visit and hadn’t been to my apartment since 2018. Most people who visit my tiny apartment pay little attention to my decor, other than getting an overall vibe. Not Ethan. He slowly took in every square inch—from the color on the walls to the furniture placement to each piece of art, the books in the bookcase, the pots on the pot rack. 

Even though he wasn’t scrutinizing my person, my place is an extension of me (as every person’s place should be!) so I was flattered that he cared enough to really look. 

You can figure out an amazing amount about a person by doing a similar kind of walk-thru, as I discovered when I was doing feng shui consultations back in the 2010s.

Try this for yourself, <<First Name>>. Start at the front door, and do a walk thru of your own home as if you knew nothing about the person who lived there… what does the space say about who lives there? What does it say about theirpriorities? Their aesthetic? Their age or background? Is it time to refresh or update?

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Easy vs. Difficult Politics

If you’ve already decided you’re a Democrat or a Republican, it’s pretty easy to ignore most of the ups and downs of the daily news hose. So when an election rolls around, you don’t have to think a lot—you just check the boxes for your chosen side. 

Surveys continue to indicate that most of us are (or try to be) disengaged from politics. We forget that everything we love or hate about how our country functions and the services we do or don’t receive, has come to pass via politics. Clean water, gun laws, highways, air traffic control, food safety, health care, military protection, etc etc  All of it. Cannot avoid it, nor would you want to.

We think “my vote doesn’t matter that much anyway.” But if you treat what’s happening in this election as if it were easy, you do yourself and your country a great disservice. One party has been completely overtaken by a con-man with authoritarian ambitions. The other is trying to keep at least a dozen difficult balls in the air (local, national, international, planetary) while simultaneously trying to placate a variety of constituencies. 

This is the year to practice Difficult Politics. You may not get another. Get in there and make a difference. 

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Put yourself in the way of beauty (awe): Solar Eclipse version

My younger son, the LA filmmaker, made a very popular 3-minute video in 2017 describing the experience of a solar eclipse. Absolutely worth your time. We went with him to the Oregon high desert to watch it… It was AWEsome:

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If you haven't yet bought the Cherry Pie Paradox, may I humbly suggest the process and practices are the best way to fulfill your annual New Years' Weight Loss resolution, once and for all. You can eat what you love, without packing on the pounds. Really. I also have copies on hand if you want to buy direct. 

Then, request the FREE AUDIOBOOK! For owners of the Cherry Pie Paradox or the workbook. I’ve found a new home for the audiobook version, where I can set the price however I want. If you already have a copy of the book or workbook and would like the audiobook, just email me (joy.overstreet@gmail.com) and I'll send you the info. If you do not yet have the book and want to buy it, Venmo me $20 @Joy-Overstreet, and I'll mail you a signed copy and the audiobook link. (Use the email link above and add your name, address, and any message you'd like when I sign it.)