I recently had a real eye opening experience that actually revolved around getting my haircut.
I am one of these people that have come to really appreciate simplicity and speed over the years. If something is easier and faster, then you can bet I am going to be attracted to it. I am especially that way when it comes to my hair. I do not want to have to spend allot of time having to curl it, or style it. I want to be able to just get up in the morning run a comb through it and have it looking and feeling good. The nice lay flat, every hair in its place type thing.
Well my hair had gotten a little long. I am not so sure it looked bad as much as it just felt uncomfortable to me. So I decided I needed a haircut. I happened to be out driving around doing errands when I passed a sign that said. Haircuts, $10 today’s special. Well problem solved haircut up and coming.
As I went up to the counter to check in this young woman walks over to me carrying this real colorful apron. She introduces herself and says, "I'll be cutting your hair for you today." She turns and starts walking away so I follow, and she leads me to her little station in the salon. I sit down in the chair and she wraps her colorful apron around my neck, and asks, "So, how would you like your hair cut today?"
And I told her. "You know it really doesn't matter to me as long as it’s shorter and more manageable." I explained that the biggest problem I had with long hair is that with my hair it only did two things. It either laid flat and looked like I hadn't washed it in awhile, or it looked like I stuck my fingers in an electrical socket and flew all over the place. So basically all I wanted was for her to cut it short, so it would have a little buoyancy without looking like I was sprouting wings to take flight.
With a look of perplexion she says, "Well, that won't work. I have no idea from that explanation how you want your hair cut." Then she smiles and says," I know what to do. Let me get one of our styling magazines and have you look at the different styles and choose a hairstyle that you like. That way I will know exactly what you want, and you will be happy when you leave here."
So she reaches over and grabs up this magazine, together we thumb through it until I see a hairstyle I like To me it was sort of cross between how Princess Dianna wore hers in later years and Demi Moore had hers done in Ghost. Kind of nice low cut, tapered in the back, with a small bit of buoyancy as it moved higher into the head, but not out of control. She seemed satisfied now that she knew what I wanted and immediately went to work.
As she was working she was doing that little chit chat stuff that hair dressers do to keep you at ease while they are chopping away at the hair on your head. I had long ago decided that chit chat was used to keep you occupied so you would not be paying attention to what was really going on. Hair stylists have a natural way of generating surprise in their creations, and sometimes those surprises can be so shocking to some, that if they realized what was going on while the stylist was at work, they would get up and leave without allowing completion of the creation.
I am the type of person that it really does not matter, if they botch it, the hair will grow back. I mean they make some pretty cool hats nowadays, with plenty of statements to choose from. So I allow for calm, cool flexibility, which is in my outward persona, while inside I am watching every move they make. I have disciplined myself not to say anything out loud, but you can bet sometimes I have one heck of a conversation going on in my head about what’s happening.
Today however, this gal appeared to know what she was doing, and she was apparently out to make sure I got the cut I wanted, so my subconscious decided to take a bit of a nap, a little siesta, while my conscious mind just enjoyed the conversation. She was a pretty interesting character with a flair for conversation so it was enjoyable and relaxing.
As she is going along, and I am feeling nice and relaxed about this whole process she gets this amazing realization, and she says, "You know, I know exactly what’s wrong with your hair!” Well I am a bit curious as to what the issue is with my hair so I ask, “Really? What's that?" And then she replies, "Well, you have fine, healthy undamaged hair. You should toss some dye into it to damage it up a bit. I would say a perm, but that might be too much damage."
Ok now, outwardly I am nodding like I understand what she is saying. But inwardly, it was like an alarm clock had gone off in my head and my subconscious immediately woke up and sent out this picture of me sitting in that chair stiff as a board with my eyes popping out of my head, and that warning from Lost in Space repeating itself over and over, "Danger Will Robinson, Danger!".
Now, I am not one to let panic overtake me in view of everyone in the world, so I took a deep breath to remain nice and calm. Then it dawned on me that I must be in my very own episode of the Twilight Zone. That apparently what had happened is that I had sat down in this chair to get my haircut and some type of dimensional portal had opened up between the chair and my hair dresser. Because in my dimension, having nice healthy undamaged hair, was a good thing!
After a few minutes of silent thought, I decided to break my silence and ask how damaging my hair would prove beneficial. I mean after all weren't there allot of products on the market that aimed at correcting damaged hair? Why on earth would I intentionally want to damage it?
That’s when she told me; "Well. You know a little damage is good. It helps give your hair that extra little bounce, and then it begins to work at repairing itself, so it can even appear healthier.
My subconscious went to work right away to rationalize that statement. Not being a hairdresser I really had no facts or theories to pull from to decide whether this was indeed a good thing or not. But the subconscious mind is so quick to draw comparisons in other areas, that I soon found myself comparing that statement to our own human need for change.
I realized that when we allow our self to become at ease with our self and our environment, and we let our self fall into this everything is fine with me routine, that little things upsetting this routine can become highly inflated. In other words, we have stopped looking for change and improvement because we have this sense of self fulfillment. But things do not always stay the same. A little mishap the boat begins rocking which in turn startles us, and we find we are at a loss as to where to begin to correct what is causing that rocking sensation, in our otherwise nice and stable boat.
When we realize that life is imperfect and we ourselves are imperfect, we begin to understand that everything is subject to change. Then these little disturbances that occur during our lifetime are not quite as dramatized as we are properly prepared to accept them for what they are: Natural occurrences that arise when imperfection exists.
So in essence to get that little extra bounce of motivation to continually work on improving one’s self, I accepted the fact that. " a little damage is good."
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