So how do we embody the goddess of love and beauty? By looking at the way we live our lives each day, and trying to honor Aphrodite in the choices we make. That means choosing the path of beauty and pleasure over the path of efficiency or practicality. This shift in attitude may lead us to re-examine the way we eat, dress, work, play and live!
 
Some say that American culture is often devoid of the simple love of pleasure. While we are a diverse nation, we are very historically "young" and our sense of tradition and culture is not very ingrained. We lack the feel of ritual in much of what we do…we may not see the significance of what we do, and in this way we miss the opportunity to cultivate beauty. To understand this, let's compare how we do things here to how they do them within an older culture.
 
In Europe, there are certain customs that people follow everyday that make life more pleasurable, sometimes in small and simple ways. For example, think of the way we in the United States go food shopping. Most of the time, we go to a big supermarket—everything is under one roof, under fluorescent lights, with linoleum floors and numbered aisles. It's all designed for expediency and saving time, so we go once every week or two and get exhausted doing it all at once. It's a chore, not a pleasure.

But if you lived in a city or village in France, or England, the Netherlands, or various other European countries, you'd also have the option to shop for dinner at a selection of small shops which all specialize in one thing. So instead of a grueling weekly trip to the supermarket, Europeans shop for their evening meal on the way home each afternoon. Imagine, stopping to get your wine in a shop full of sparkling bottles where the air smells faintly of grapes and fruit! Then you go into the bakery for your bread, and inhale the heady scent of baking loaves and pastries, yeast and vanilla and rye and icing sugar! Then you pick up your meat or fish at the butcher's or fish shop, chatting with the proprietor as he tells you what's fresh that day and what you could do to prepare it in a delectable way. Finally you stop at the greengrocer's for your fruits and vegetables: a bustling place full of colors and smells and the goodness of nature's bounty. Is it any wonder Europeans often seem more relaxed than Americans? (Of course, they also believe in afternoon naps and eight weeks of vacation every year!)
 
You don't need to live in a city or town full of tiny shops—you can transform your supermarket trip into an Aphrodisian experience. Be aware of your surroundings! The colors, shapes and smells of foods can be very sensual. Look at things as if they are there for your enjoyment and realize you have many choices. Try something new: an exotic fruit, an unusual bread, a type of seafood you've never had. If you only need a few things, consider walking to and from the market and carrying your purchases in a basket or tote bag. You get your exercise and fresh air at the same time you accomplish your shopping!
 
When you get home with your purchases, you can also cook and serve dinner in ways that emphasize beauty and pleasure. There's no need to get extra fancy: a single Gerber daisy or tulip in a bud vase is as enticing as a bouquet of long-stem roses. Mismatched plates from the flea market, trimmed with floral patterns or gold filigree, are every bit as charming as a matched set of Wedgewood china. For a change of pace, serve dinner outside, on the porch or on the lawn—picnics are romantic and fun! Light some candles or lanterns, use fabric napkins and tablecloths, use your imagination to make things look festive. Aphrodite's colors are blues, greens and soft shades of rose and pink—use table accents to emphasize these colors. Put a piece of sheer rose-colored fabric over the lampshade to give soft color to the environment.
 
Make the food colorful, too: serve dishes whose colors, textures and shapes contrast with each other, as well as their flavors and scents!