Love Your Unique Beauty
"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." Anne Frank
It's a challenge, to love who we are, unconditionally. We look in the mirror and critique, we tear apart every "flaw", we hide from the camera, and we internally loathe who we are on the outside. After becoming a mom I especially wanted to work on my capacity to "self love".
It all begins with loving others, if we're able to love people, forgive people, and see our neighbors in the light of Christ, we will grow the capacity to love ourselves. We learn to love ourselves by simply caring less about "me" and more about "them".
Beautify Your Surroundings
Instead of focusing on choosing a breast implant size or budgeting for a nose job (to be frank), plant a garden, create something beautiful. Beauty builds upon itself, it glorifies what's around it. The mountains always shine grander with a bed of wildflowers gracing the valley below.
Limit the time in front of the mirror, or the time spent editing the selfies. Simplify the beauty routine to allow more time spent in beauty. Naturally, we are more beautiful when our hearts are at rest.
Learn About Your Inner Beauty
You may not be too interested in your own personality, like the MBTI, but it can be life-giving to have a better understanding of how you relate to the world. When I learned that I am an INFP, and began to study what that meant, I felt more connected to not only who I am, but to those I am close to. I understand where I am weak, and where I have strength.
I better understand how my type brings beauty into the world.
Embrace the Movement of Time
Time moves, right? I love that quote that says something like, "thirty years ago to me is 1970 but it's actually 1990". Before I know it, I'll be in my fifties, my children will be almost grown, and I will have, well, aged. Does it really matter how old you are? Why do we try to ignore time and keep our faces impossibly aged? Why do we care? I want to age with grace, not so much in the physical sense, but I want to age with a spirit of grace, allowing my outside and inside to change naturally.
Between my lack of efforts to spread the night cream on my neck, and Colorado sunshine, I'll be very well "weathered", and I'm not a bit concerned.
Life Your Life, Beautifully
Wear the clothes that you love, whether you're a fancy lady or a casual cat. Choose the big frames if you love them, and wear the costume jewelry or the simple locket. Worry less about style, and live in style, always smiling, always looking forward.
“Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
*This is a collaborative post.