{Lit From Within}

Dear Bride-to-Be:
Are you still busy looking for the “perfect” wedding dress? Or have you found the gown that simply calls your name . . . that you feel beautiful in inside and out?

No matter what stage you're in with your wedding activities, remember that “a wedding gown does not a bride make”! I’ve worked with brides of all ages—from seventeen to eighty-seven, from first marriage to more than three—and every bride in love is lit with a “fairy tale quality” no matter what she was wearing. Being loved and being in love does that: lights you up from within, surrounds you with blessings, raises you above the mundane.

So it's not a beautiful gown that makes a woman a beautiful bride. That glow of beauty comes from wearing her love like a warm, generous embrace. . . and sharing it with everyone along the way.

What do you need to put into place in your life right now so you don’t lose—or at least so you can recapture—that “lit from within” feeling after the wedding . . . when life settles down and becomes “normal” again? What do you call on at those times when love doesn't feel so special . . . when you don't feel beautiful in whatever you are wearing?

Look inside yourself to find your light, your magic. . . that place where love resides. Then breathe that light in so you become familiar with how being present to your “inner light” feels. Make it a practice so you can return to that essence at any time—especially when life feels more like a fractured fairy tale than that falling in love lightness! And remember, even at those stressful times, your inner light is always available to call on . . . just look inside and fall in love with yourself and the whole wide world over and over again.

Love. Listen. Let go.
...with love from Cornelia

[Photograph: Missy McLamb Photography Studio]