“Who am I without my Bling?”

Blog entry by Kathy Cleveland Bull
January 17,  2013

One week from today I will be having minor surgery. One of the requirements before arriving at the hospital is to remove all jewelry. For the first time in probably 4 years I will be taking out the diamond studs in my second earring holes. I’ll leave them safe and secure in my jewelry box at home, along with my wedding rings and watch which will accompany the countless rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces that fill my wooden box of treasures.

And that’s not all. “Morning of” I will be showering with a special pre-hospital admission soap and will not be permitted to then finish my usual beauty ritual with face cream, lotion, deodorant, and that dab of miracle cream under my puffy eyes. No creams, lotions, magic elixirs or make up to complete my polished professional “look”!

I know what you’re thinking, “Get over yourself, lady,”, but lest you saddle up your high horse, it’s worth noting that all of us find comfort, security and identity in things outside of our True Self. One woman’s jewelry is another woman’s job title. One man’s Ferrari is another man’s bank account balance. And even one person’s value system is another’s fundamentalism. There are countless layers to our onion skin of armor. Mine may come in a designer suit, yours in a cleric’s robe. All are ways to hide or protect or to sell an image to the world.  And it seems to me that our quest is well spent peeling away these layers.

So as I head “un-adorned” to the hospital next week I will tune in to the insecurity represented by the lack of bling and mascara. And I hope I recognize that this insecure feeling is really about touching the naked and exposed self that comes into this word with not even a blankie and goes out pretty much the same way.

Who am I without my Bling? A vulnerable, fallible human being on the path. Without my bling, I am still a diamond in the eyes of my Creator, albeit “in the rough”!
Kathy Cleveland Bull, NCompass Consulting