Feeling Beautiful in a World of Beauty

The other day, I went on google image and typed in two words. Beautiful and Beauty.

Can you guess which one is which? I bet you can. The "beautiful" photos are the ones that are of things: the cloud painting, the abstract water photo, the blue rose. Whereas, the "beauty" photos are the ones of the girl's faces. They are all beautiful, thus the tagging of beauty on Google.

These two words mean very different things to me. Beautiful is something that I think is pretty and colorful. Sometimes it is a person but it can be an item too. I find lots of things beautiful in this world. However, beauty has always had a negative conontation for me. I find that things that are beautiful on the outside, are not always that pretty on the inside. It definitely is in the eyes of the beholder. Being a girl, I grew up desiring beauty and acceptance only to be shunned by my peers. When all I really needed was to realize my own beauty. I am a smart, artistic, happy, good person. There is a lot of beauty in that. When it all comes down to it, beauty is not an important thing to me. I do not find too much beauty in this world anymore. Just in my family and friends and nature.

Honestly, as an adult now I feel beautiful most days.

In this world, in our society, beauty is a very important thing. It is almost as important as shelter, or even food and drink. It's almost like its become a neccessity. People are obsessed with having the perfect skin, a sexy body, a flawless bone structure and no wrinkles. We buy countless products to improve our appearance. We have an hour long facial cleaning processes and weekly spa facials. We diet and work out like crazy, sometimes even taking it to an unhealthy extreme. We spend tons of dollars on plastic surgery and botox. We use anti-wrinkle creams and do silly things like not moving our face too much, for fear of creating future wrinkles.

And for what?

To be seen as pretty or sexy or whatever. But wait, is beauty not in the eyes of the beholder? Isn't beauty whatever we want it to be? The exact definition for beauty is: a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight. Or... a combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense. There is NOTHING in that definition about a sexy body or perfect skin, or any of the other things mentioned above. Something that pleases the aesthetic sense. That is all. WHY ARE WE SO OBSESSED WITH THIS PERVERTED IDEA OF BEAUTY????????

I so very deeply hope that my daughter never has to go through the issues with personal appearance that I did. There were times in highschool that I hated myself, I do not know if I have ever told anyone that, except for my husband and therapist. I hated my looks, my hair, my body type, everything about me. All because I was a little different from society's "standards." I will always make a point to tell my daughter that she is beautiful, NO MATTER WHAT. She is beautiful because she is herself. Afterall, isn't that what really makes us all beautiful?

Things that make me beautiful:

*My love for humankind and animalkind alike
*My paintings
*My dance and choreography
*My drawing capabilities
*My happiness, laughter and smile
*My intelligence
*My strength and willingness to give and help people

What kind of things make you beautiful? Your happiness, your artistic qualities, your smile, the love you give? Share with me!