With the start of a new year, we’re all seeking new goals and new ways to be inspired. Why not then consider being inspired by beauty? When you are in touch with all of your senses, it is so easy to be inspired by beauty. This must be a chief reason as to why I am in love with traveling to Paris. If I haven’t been there in a while, I get heartsick. It’s like my beauty-o-meter gauge says to me, “Go! Refuel your senses. And come back more alive than ever!” And, quite simply, this is exactly what happens to me during and after each visit.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Living in the Silicon Valley is wonderful. We can be inspired by beauty right at home. The Santa Cruz Mountains are a wonderful sight. There is world-class cuisine to enjoy in San Francisco and in points north, east, and – dare I say – south. You can hop over to Stanford University to examine sculptures of Rodin. It’s so much easier to be inspired by beauty that’s close to home, as opposed to having to fly all the way to Paris, France.
And, even though I return to Paris time after time, it remains my special go-to place for inspiration. And, all the experiences that get me inspired by beauty are the kinds of memories, senses, and desires that I bring back home for my benefit and for yours.
Paris is a place for the eyes. You can easily be inspired by beauty when it comes to architecture. The building facades, the amazing urban planning, the honoring of important events with monuments and buildings, collectively paint a visual landscape that we don’t find back home. Why does Paris look so brilliant after a rainstorm? Whereas, when it rains at home [something we desperately need], we’re just grateful that the dust was washed off the buildings and roads?
Seeing Paris through this lens helps me bring home the happy feeling of being inspired by beauty anywhere, even if it’s different than the source of the inspiration.
Paris is also about the beauty of the people. Yes, there is a lot of emphasis on being thin in Paris. But, that’s not what I’m necessarily thinking about when I see people who are well turned out just to eat a leisurely lunch at a corner café. It’s terrific that women generally take care of their appearance and grooming, and manage how they comport themselves. Men wear cologne and scarves without hesitation. There is no need to metrosexualize a Parisian man. Rather, it’s about whether or not a man is Parisian. This is quite liberating and a real egalitarian approach to beauty that I hope can be inspiring to us all.
It makes me sad when I hear people back home say that they don’t often feel like looking snappy because of the work culture, or because “we live in San Jose!” Oy vey! So, the way in which I am inspired by beauty while in Paris is something that I get to bring back to Silicon Valley. I want us to dress for ourselves. I want us to dress for each other. I want us to appreciate that each of us is beautiful, and that we can be. We can be inspired by beauty simply by experiencing one another.
Why bother with all of this? Isn’t this so vain? So cliché?
If that’s how you feel about being inspired by beauty, you’ve been in the dark far too long. It’s time to see the light again.
This is why I go to Paris. To me, it’s not only the literal City of Lights. It is where people have a lightness of being, a joie de vivre. I want to have that spirited Light in me, and I hope to inspire that in you, too.
To look good is to feel good. To feel good is to do good. To do good is to accomplish. When you accomplish something, it’s not all about you. It always impacts others. And so does looking good, and feeling good, and doing good. So why skip a crucial step toward accomplishing something by forgetting to look good first?
It’s the dawn of a New Year. I challenge you to be inspired by beauty. You don’t have to hop a plane and travel 6000 miles to find it. It’s right there inside of you. If you don’t find it there, you’ll never find it anywhere.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs transform their self-confidence by improving their personal style. Get Joseph’s free report that helps you know “7 Ways to Transform Your Personal Style.”
I have always believed we should all be the best we can be. That includes looking our best every day. I have been yo Paris many times and am always happy to see how well turned out the populous appears. I love the city for its classiness in every way.
Linda, thank you for adding your thoughts to the conversation. It must server you well to look your best. If it helps you to stand in your full power, you have found a mode for success. :-)