Love is in the air, and we can finally take a break from the frantic heavy lifting of January’s resolutions.
There’s something about February that gives us permission to breathe a sigh of relief, pause, reflect, learn—and open our hearts to love.
In her compelling book How Emotions Are Made, neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett introduces the concept of interception—how our bodies play a role in creating our own emotions.
Her key insight is that before we have emotions, we feel things in our bodies, and our brains construct our emotions out of our gut feelings. Once the brain names the emotion, we then build a narrative around that emotion.
Her research confirms something I’ve always known to be true: Giving your attention to the care of your body is central to your well-being.
Self-care that elevates the sensory experience of our bodies can be a powerful source of inner strength.
“If I didn't define myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."
— Audre Lorde
Amen to that, because according to Barrett, our emotions are culturally encoded, and are not the same across all cultures.
Exhibit A: In our Western culture, a beauty industry that has centered on the care of the face above all has left too many of us with the feeling of an emotional and mental beat-down from years of anti-aging, youth-obsessed skincare marketing.
Goodbye to all of that—turn your skincare heartache into joy.
In creating eu2be formulas, self-love was very much on my mind. It’s the reason our products are designed with a wealth of culturally prized and long-beloved biomimetic carrier oils.
It’s why eu2be outperforms many other skincare products. And that’s because I valued tactility, touch, and sensory effects in our formulas right alongside sustainably sourcing premium natural oils that are whole and high-performing.
Have you ever tested a skincare product in the store, but by the time you got home your skin felt tacky or had no moisturizing effect at all?
Most skincare products are designed for that upfront sensational hit.
eu2be was formulated for the long game. We used proven science to deliver an unparalleled sensory touch experience and efficacy long after application.
It’s also why a little eu2be goes a long way—and why a second application isn’t needed.
Now you know: Our bodies play a role in creating our emotions.
This is essentially why I founded eu2be and it explains my quest to illuminate the necessity of beauty in our lives. It has less to do with the appearance of our skin and everything to do with how we feel in the skin we’re in.
So much of skincare focuses on the face which is ridiculous when you consider just how much skin you have.
FYI The average adult has approximately 21 square feet of skin, weighs about 8 lbs, and contains more than 11 miles of blood vessels.*
We are not our thoughts or emotions. But the body is where our emotions emanate from and it’s where we live.
We are conscious beings. We live in a body, but we are not our bodies. Therefore, the essence of where we reside is not on our face either, but within a body encased by a protective wall called skin.
Taking care of all of your skin is essential self-care.
Caring only for just your face is like only taking care of one room in your house and letting the rest of the place go to ruin.
As Dr. Barrett’s research proves, our ideas about where we live have a huge impact on how we live.
It’s comforting to know that we’re designed in a way that caring for our skin is a conducive regimen for caring for the body and the person we are to become.
And even better, the body is always in the present—we are never alone.
In celebration of February, may you come home to yourself and love the one you’re with—and may these tools be yours for living with joy and love.
XOXO,
eu2be founder/ceo Charla Jones
Join our Instagram community.
*Source: National Geographic's Skin Information & Facts
Photo: Artist Bharti Kher's sculpture 'Ancestor' in Central Park NYC
