In the joy part is the feel and colour of a fuzzy cardigan on the first really cold day. The joy of silver shoes and red tops. A chunky, over the top piece of fake jewellry. The tassel on a bag. A beautiful emerald green scarf.

This brings me joy.

But the curse? The curse is looking at too many images of the young and beautiful and rich and photo shopped. The curse is media sites turning into soft porn images less about fashion and more about butt size. Suddenly its a challenge to look in the mirror.

This blog has been neglected as I fight this curse and try to find my way back to the joy.

Sure it’s only fashion.

.But it’s also about asserting my right as a human being to take joy in something even if it isn’t cool. Or I’m not cool.

I’m a huge fan of Pema Chodron. A huge fan. Each day I try to walk for an hour and listen to her teachings. They bear listening to repeatedly. Not only do they cheer me up, but also I find that different parts of the teaching will resonate with me depending upon what is happening in my life at that time.

At the moment, what is resonating with me is the idea that life is always going to be a combination of good and bad. And suffering. Wanting things to be only good is human but it is also a path to suffering, suffering as a result of refusing to accept things the way they are. Running away doesn’t help. It makes things worse. The only way through the bad is to confront it. Sit with it. Get to know it. It is what it is.

It’s funny in life how there will be these moments when a cliche suddenly becomes insightful advice.

And so, somehow, I took this to mean that I should write a blog post.