Ever since I was little, I’ve loved Mae West. I love a bawdy, funny lady who is sexual but not too feminine. A lady who smokes cigars and lies on a piano cracking jokes. A woman who thinks she’s sexy as heck regardless if anybody else agrees.
A few years ago, I was in a period that felt like an extended un-juicy funk. So I did an experiment and brought my Mae West persona to a party. I prepared and got in the mood: I ditched my Whole Foods Red Earth lipstick made of hemp seeds in favor of a cheap drugstore brand called Metallic Seduction. I spent a long time in front of the mirror getting ready, appreciating my beauty, putting on quite a bit of makeup and piling on too much jewelry.
All night long, when I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror, I’d say to myself, “You are so fucking sexy.” I made inappropriate comments. I flirted with everyone: old people, babies. I was essentially my own party. I had fun.
This is the magic of an experiment. You can change reality for a time. And sometimes a miracle happens and the experiment changes everything. That night opened a doorway that reconnected me to my juiciness and sense of play.
An experiment is a way to risk within a confined space and time to embody something new. It’s a place to hope and dream, to break out of your habitual way of doing things, to embrace imperfection, to pursue pleasure, to create the life you yearn for.
* * *
Click here to download a Love Experiment (to sweeten your relationship with yourself, your sweetheart, and the world) and get updates on upcoming workshops and new experiments.
* * *
Photo: Mae West on a Ghana stamp (Shutterstock)