Surface dressing

Driving back from an afternoon tea party, I saw a road sign that said ‘surface dressing for one day only’. For some reason, it struck a chord. The road into my town is getting ready for surface dressing. How about that?

It got me thinking about the word ‘dressing’ and the importance of dressing the surfaces that we have.

When we hear ‘dressing the surface’, I am sure most of us will think about clothes and shoes that are visible to the naked eye.

As I thought about ‘dressing the surface’, I began to consider other things we can dress like our bodies, minds, our spirits and souls. So here are my thoughts on what and how we can dress.

Dress your mind with the right information

You might ask, ‘how do you dress the mind?’. You can dress your mind with the right kind of information, knowledge and insight.

We are in an age where there are so many tools to help dress our minds, including phone apps, books, podcasts, TED talks and a whole host of YouTube videos.

There is information on any topic you want to learn. Now, it’s easy to adorn your mind in the right ways which could translate to improved decisions creating better results.

Dress your mind with the right thoughts

Many years ago, I let my preference for introversion dictate what I did and I stayed in a mindset that told me I couldn’t do any public speaking. This was until someone gave me an opportunity to speak without the option to say no.

I had to learn to think differently about my personal preferences especially when I saw the response from the audience. Today, I speak to audiences of any size without giving a thought to my preference for introversion.

The book, ‘Quiet’ by Susan Cain was really useful in helping me to celebrate and leverage my introversion.

You can adorn your mind by thinking the right thoughts and listening to the right information that will nourish you and change your mindset.

No one can be better than the information they feed on. So what do you think about?

We should think on things that are honourable and worthy of respect, whatever is right, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute. We have to replace negative thoughts with positive ones and align our mindsets to work for us.

Dress your body appropriately for each occasion

We all know the phrases ‘dressing the part’ or ‘dressing for the job you want and not the job you have’ or even ‘dressing to make a good first impression’. All these expressions including ‘dressing for success’ show how important dressing up is.

There is a right attire for every occasion and this can be the difference between comfort or discomfort and fitting in or sticking out like a sore thumb.

Ask any one who has ever worn an uncomfortable pair of shoes and they will tell you just how important the right outfit and shoes are.

Learn from nature’s dressing

Even the skies get dressed in their own way. There was the blood moon on the 27th of July and millions of people watched a total lunar eclipse and saw the moon turning the most vivid colour of red one can imagine.

As I sat in my living room writing this post, the sky was adorned with the most beautiful rainbow that caused me to gasp in awe at the beauty and majesty of it all.

All around us are signs of beauty. The gardens are adorned with all kinds of plants and flowers in all shades of colours.

Nature’s dressing is bold, announces itself and challenges your perception. We can learn from that. Dressing yourself, unapologetically, like nature, will help you to stand out in a world where too many look the same.

As you start your week, what surfaces do you need to dress? We can dare to be different and to stand out for the right reasons.

Think of your goals and life purpose and define any changes you need to make in how your mind and body are dressed. Maybe it’s time for your ‘surface dressing’, whatever that looks like.

I am thankful that you read my weekly post. I would love for you to share it with others and leave a comment about what you need to dress.

Here’s to a fabulous week of dressing. See you next week.