When was the last time you laughed so hard, you cried? Or beamed proudly at your child? Perhaps you smiled in awe of the majestic beauty of nature, or lit up with pure joy when you finally saw your loved one after a long absence.

These are all sacred moments. They are divine opportunities for Souls to connect and our hearts to open.

Smiling and laughter also leave their mark, on our face.

We know many of our wrinkles are a reflection of these precious moments and yet so many people focus on their wrinkles negatively. We want to hide, cover, minimize or deflect their depth. I personally know people who go so far to avoid this, that they will not crease their face when they laugh. In today’s technologically advanced world, we hastily apply filters or delete photos altogether on the spot if we find the smallest perceived flaw. We don’t realize that with this seemingly innocuous act we might erase soul-filled moments in exchange for the contrived beauty of filters. The temporary relief that we “still look young” leaves us uneasy nevertheless, because we have disconnected from our Wisest Self in pursuit of that which eludes us.

Rather than embracing these tiny footprints on the many blessed moments of our path, we feel self-conscious, unattractive and want nothing more than for them to disappear. But isn't the desire to “erase our laugh lines” as so many advertisements encourage us to do, also a form of erasing our essence?

Is the deeper connotation of “erasing laughter” something we should stop and think about before internalizing it as one more thing we need to change about ourselves?

Ideally there is balance in everything. Taking care of ourselves in a way that genuinely makes us feel better about our appearance is wonderful and necessary. But when the effort shifts from self-care to obsession and sadness over lost youth, we are operating from fear. If we are feeling we are less valuable or less of anything because of our wrinkles, we are not in our Wholeness.

What if the condition of hiding your wrinkles was to give back those moments that uplifted you, comforted you or changed you forever? Is it worth it to reject the beauty of where you’ve been for flawless skin? Not for me. When I see my wrinkles in the mirror, I remind myself that those resulted from years of graceful moments I was granted to be in the presence of love, a privilege that happened so many times it left its mark permanently. In my wrinkles I see time spent with those dear to me as well as life’s difficult seasons that built my character and resilience. I remain humble to the reminder that a wrinkle symbolizes the gift of time.