Beauty

The other day I came across the 'Splendiferous Girls Club' via the 'For the Love of Blogs'. Sherry asked the question, 'What does the word beautiful mean to you?', so I decided I'd share my thoughts.

In our society, we have a particular image of what human beauty is: the model, the actress, the person with flawless skin and 0% body fat. But to me, this is not true beauty. So much of what we see called that is deemed 'beauty' is distorted: it is layered with make-up, photo-shopped and air-brushed. If you have not seen the following Dove video, you really must because it illustrates this point exactly.

Also, here is another good one to watch and think about

Or perhaps you may have seen photos like these of models without make-up:

or celebrities without make-up

The point here is not to bust on models or celebrities because no one wants to be picked on for not looking their best - but what I want to show is that as people (and women in particular) we shouldn't be comparing ourselves with those we see on television or in magazines. As the quote goes "There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only 8 who do". Why should we compare ourselves or make ourselves feel inferior?

We are all beautiful. I see beauty in every single person and in every thing. This world is beautiful - transcendently and wonderfully beautiful. Its beauties and inspiring wonders cannot be even be counted. When one looks through the eyes of Love, you will see everywhere the Beautiful and True.

My husband didn't know I was writing this post, but he spoke the most apt words just now. He quoted D.H. Lawrence, saying "The human soul needs beauty more than bread". But then he also said 'Beauty is really everywhere, isn't it? It's our duty to discover it." I think that is so true and fitting.

When I was a child I sang a solo in my church called "Beautiful". Although its not the in the lyrics, there was a part of it that talked about a flower bulb opening. If we were to look at a flower bulb, such as an Amaryllis we plant for Christmas, if we didn't know any better we would say it was fairly ugly. And yet, see what it grows to be. We should never judge anything to be ugly or beautiful. All things are beautiful. Sometimes it just takes time to see or appreciate that beauty from our limited understanding.

What we usually deem as beautiful is often due to the way we perceive harmony or order in something. When we hear music that we think is beautiful it is often due our limited understanding of harmony. We may think that fungus or rats or mosquitoes etc. to be 'ugly'... but they serve a purpose in the grand order of things. For example, without fungus, the leaves that fall from the trees and other dead things would accumulate  and accumulate and we would be having to wade through all of that mess. The reason I point this out is that when we realize and understand our purpose and appreciate and love the person who we are (without trying to be something else), then we are at our most beautiful and true and are at harmony with the world. 

Most of us are undeveloped souls... but we are merely unopened flowers with great potential. The perfect Beauty lies concealed within, and will one day reveal itself if we let it and drink from the source of all life. What gardener would be so foolish as to condemn his flowers because they do not develop in a day? It takes time, and we need to be patient with ourselves, laugh and grow from our mistakes, and learn to love.

"Let there be nothing within thee that is not very beautiful and very gentle, and then will there be nothing without thee that is not beautified and softened by the spell of thy presence." - James Allen

I was just at values.com today and I came across this quote/ story:

My mother sat me down and said, ...you are beautiful to me but must know that you are beautiful for yourself. You should also be aware that true beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which means that how beautiful you are to other people is always going to be subjective to who is looking at you at that time, and since you will always be looking at yourself first, you should find your own beauty and feel good about who you are.” She went on to tell me that I needed to take the time to identify those things that I found to be beautiful about myself but also celebrate what I thought was weird or unusual because those were the special things that God had given to me that made me different from everybody else. I learned how to appreciate, embrace, and enhance those special things so that they would shine rather than be hidden...We learned to love and identify with what made us uniquely beautiful.

BeNeca Ward (born 1976);

Author of "3rd Generation Country, a Practical Guide to Raising Children with Great Values"

The following two photos I've had on my 'about' page. This about sums up beauty for me: being the unique and wonderful person that God created me to be... not trying to be anyone else. Just me. That is beautiful.

Also, here is one more video I hope you like:

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Psychiatrist, Author (1926-2004)

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

A Whole Lotta Love,

Adrienne