Beauty and luxury. Luxury and beauty. No matter how you arrange them in your mind or on the page, these two topics very likely create a lot of joy and distress in your life. Beauty is something most people adore and even aspire to. Yet it’s rare to find a woman who doesn’t feel challenged around her own beauty in one way or another.

Luxury is a topic that generates a lot of heated debate and polarized opinions. These often stem from the belief that only a select few can truly enjoy luxury, leaving the rest of us to only dream of such privilege. Many women are reluctant to allow any form of luxury into their lives for fear of being judged, maligned and even ostracized from their loved ones. Others seem to revel and thrive amongst the high-end offerings of the world.

What’s really going on here? It’s clear that for most, beauty and luxury create an internal push-pull. There’s a clear magnetic that draws women to beauty and luxury, and a simultaneous push back and repulsion away from it. The truly curious thing is that this push-pull dynamic looks and feels different for most women – the reasons for being drawn to it or repelled by it aren’t universally the same.

There are, however, some very common misconceptions about beauty and luxury that play into this magnetizing-polarizing dynamic. These misunderstandings play directly into why you might find yourself in the crosshairs of this challenge, and once you uncover your unique misconceptions, it’s easier to understand why you likely love and hate beauty and luxury all at the same time.

Here is my list of the most common misconceptions about beauty:

• There is a limited amount of beauty to go around
• Only certain people have beauty; only a select few get to be beautiful
• Beauty is self-indulgent, frivolous, and unnecessary
• Beautiful people are shallow, self-indulgent, narcissistic, selfish and vain
• Prioritizing beauty means you’re ‘high-maintenance’
• Beauty = vanity
• Beauty comes at the expense of developing your spirituality and soul
• Beauty is defined by a select few
• Beauty is ugly
• Beauty is painful
• External beauty isn’t important
• Beauty is cruel; beautiful people and the beauty industry are cruel
• Beauty is manipulative
• Beauty is expensive

As you read the list above, are there any that stand out for you, or that you can relate to because you believe something similar?

I’ve personally held most of these misconceptions about beauty, and am still on a journey of allowing more beauty to be shamelessly present in my life in all of its glorious forms. When I realized all of the ways I wasn’t allowing myself to receive my own beauty and the beauty around me, I knew I wasn’t allowing myself to fully enjoy or receive the beauty that is in my life and in the world. I knew it was time to evolve my relationship to beauty because it does fuel and inspire me, and I love feeling fueled and inspired.

My journey with luxury has been equally turbulent and confused. Here is my list of the most common misconceptions about luxury:

• Luxury is only available to and created for the wealthy
• Luxury = expensive cars, private jets, yachts, caviar and diamonds
• Luxury always costs money – usually big money
• Luxury is only for a select few; it’s not for everyone
• Luxury is vulgar
• Luxury is greedy
• Luxury for a select few comes at the expense or detriment of others
• Luxury is selfish
• Luxury and the desire for it leads to corruption
• Luxury breeds laziness and entitlement
• Luxury takes you away from and comes at the expense of personal and spiritual development
• Luxury is for snobs
• Luxury comes at a price – financial, spiritual, environmental, etc.

Which of these common misidentifications are you carrying around with you? It’s so easy to absorb the messages that are all around and not even know that they are forming your relationship with the world around you, and your identity within that world.

The key here is to recognize that if you are carrying around one or all of these misconceptions, to know that they are not a confirmation that what you believe or don’t believe is actually true. Instead, these misconceptions are showing you the ways in which you aren’t allowing beauty and luxury into your life, and where you are therefore cutting off the divine spark of abundance, inspiration and enjoyment, too.

Remember, beauty and luxury in and of themselves are not evil, selfish or wrong. It’s what you attach to them, it’s how you are relating to them, and the judgments you have against them that are creating all of the turmoil inside of you.

The core essence and soul of beauty and luxury are actually quite high in vibration. In their purest, most elemental forms, they are in fact aspects of the Divine.

Can you feel this?

When you allow yourself to experience more beauty and luxury every day, you allow aspects of the Divine into your life in ways that fully support the highest and most dynamic expression of your own divinity. It’s true, not all beauty and luxury is created equal, but in their purest and most elevated forms, they actually uplift and support the evolution of the human soul. And from this place, they definitely have a significant place and purpose in every woman’s life.

The missing piece that changes this push-pull dynamic inside of you is SOUL. This is why I talk about Beauty & Luxury with Soul. When your soul-centered values are fully realized and present in your relationship with beauty and luxury, you are free to give yourself full permission to experience and receive the level of beauty and luxury that feels fulfilling, supportive and ‘right’ to you. And from this place you can elevate your own personal and professional vibration, feel more confident in your choices (and in your own skin), and truly enjoy your life on your terms without apology, deprivation, struggle or regret.