Your Glorious Self
(While this post may seemed geared only towards women, let me say that any male reader I may have... please consider yourself here as well. Men could use some validation too, and we as women love, or have loved, a man in our lives....and what goes for us goes for them as well).
Do you realize just how beautiful you are? Does that question cause you to pause, feel a little embarrassed or self-conscious? Well....you are beautiful, I don't even know you, but I know you are beautiful. I had lunch today with a group of local business women, all of them making their own way. They looked coiffed, wore make-up, had fashionable purses, nice clothes, the whole nine yards....one gal had a rockin' pair of boots that I lusted after...but, I digress...what I'm saying is they all were "put together". After the initial ice breaking went on and we naturally fell into little groups, I started hearing their insecurities. I guess they felt "safe" to talk this way. Honestly, get a bunch of women together and make us feel "safe" and we want to spill everything! Good, bad or indifferent, that's how we roll. Anyway....I felt a sadness listening to them berate themselves in one way or another. One didn't like her seriously straight (and SHINY) hair. She bemoaned the fact that it just "hangs". Another started in on her face, her jowls, as she called them. I didn't see any to be honest, but she swore they were there and she felt "old" because of it. Another one grabbed at her waistline and said...."I need to lose this, or I'm going to lose my husband"....half kidding (I think) but sad just the same. After a few more minutes of this I told them they were all Goddesses. Then I silently sent each one a blessing that they find peace within themselves and rise above the "bashing". But I thoroughly enjoyed the ladies I talked with, I saw myself in them and all the times I did the very same thing. I was also glad to hear them talk about their families, their children, their work, the things they found worth in. It wasn't all about tearing themselves apart, no! And thank goodness they could laugh, and we did. A lot. People are beautiful when they laugh.
I know I'm a beautiful woman. It took me years to reclaim that, to be able to say it without shrinking, or feeling narcissistic. I'm not vain in the least, and I think anyone who knows me, knows that. But I do have a healthy sense of worth, of my innate beauty, as well as my physical beauty. I've done the whole stand-naked-in-the-mirror thing, in a attempt to feel comfortable in my own skin, and it took awhile, but I can do it now and feel thankful for this body that carries me into my life everyday. It's a beautiful thing to have a body, to feel your breath go in and out, to grow hair, fingernails, shed your skin and get new skin every month. Think about it, we are miracles.....and Goddesses, all. You know what? When you give this kind of attention to yourself, and really get that you are beautiful by birth, then whatever doesn't serve your life, whatever doesn't move you forward or keeps you weighed down.....will want to fall away....and not because you are critical. It's because you are naturally made to be a joyous, light hearted, radiant human being. Free that inner light.
I'm remembering when I was growing up how my mother (doesn't it always come back to our mothers?) would tell me not to be self-centered, not to be concerned with my looks, to be self-depreciating, and to not put myself first in my own life. Wow, just writing that makes the hair stand up on my neck. That kind of language, which we've all heard in one form or another, just doesn't serve our right to be beautiful, does it? We're not talking vanity here....I'm talking self-love and nurturing. Daughter of the Universe....Prince of the Universe...how do you like that salutation?.....be at peace with who you are. Stop prodding, squeezing, picking, wishing that you were something else, or someone else, or another size...or whatever it is. Just stop.
Shun what TV and magazines and the media feeds us. It's a steady stream of illusion designed to make us feel like we need what they're selling. I don't have to tell you about the onslaught we're faced with everyday. Turn away, turn within....and be glad you are unique. There are no two of us alike. Isn't that amazing? Embrace your selfhood. Embrace your womanhood. Embrace your manhood. Embrace each other. Hold your friends up to the light, tell them how beautiful they are. Hug them, compliment them. I make it a daily practice to hug a lot of people and to tell them how nice they look, a little lavishing goes a long way, it puts a spring in their step....it makes people glow. Try it. You'll glow too, and that my friend is the best beauty product out there. The glow of giving, loving, praising.
Until next time....blessings upon your beautiful heart
Cindy
Do you realize just how beautiful you are? Does that question cause you to pause, feel a little embarrassed or self-conscious? Well....you are beautiful, I don't even know you, but I know you are beautiful. I had lunch today with a group of local business women, all of them making their own way. They looked coiffed, wore make-up, had fashionable purses, nice clothes, the whole nine yards....one gal had a rockin' pair of boots that I lusted after...but, I digress...what I'm saying is they all were "put together". After the initial ice breaking went on and we naturally fell into little groups, I started hearing their insecurities. I guess they felt "safe" to talk this way. Honestly, get a bunch of women together and make us feel "safe" and we want to spill everything! Good, bad or indifferent, that's how we roll. Anyway....I felt a sadness listening to them berate themselves in one way or another. One didn't like her seriously straight (and SHINY) hair. She bemoaned the fact that it just "hangs". Another started in on her face, her jowls, as she called them. I didn't see any to be honest, but she swore they were there and she felt "old" because of it. Another one grabbed at her waistline and said...."I need to lose this, or I'm going to lose my husband"....half kidding (I think) but sad just the same. After a few more minutes of this I told them they were all Goddesses. Then I silently sent each one a blessing that they find peace within themselves and rise above the "bashing". But I thoroughly enjoyed the ladies I talked with, I saw myself in them and all the times I did the very same thing. I was also glad to hear them talk about their families, their children, their work, the things they found worth in. It wasn't all about tearing themselves apart, no! And thank goodness they could laugh, and we did. A lot. People are beautiful when they laugh.
I know I'm a beautiful woman. It took me years to reclaim that, to be able to say it without shrinking, or feeling narcissistic. I'm not vain in the least, and I think anyone who knows me, knows that. But I do have a healthy sense of worth, of my innate beauty, as well as my physical beauty. I've done the whole stand-naked-in-the-mirror thing, in a attempt to feel comfortable in my own skin, and it took awhile, but I can do it now and feel thankful for this body that carries me into my life everyday. It's a beautiful thing to have a body, to feel your breath go in and out, to grow hair, fingernails, shed your skin and get new skin every month. Think about it, we are miracles.....and Goddesses, all. You know what? When you give this kind of attention to yourself, and really get that you are beautiful by birth, then whatever doesn't serve your life, whatever doesn't move you forward or keeps you weighed down.....will want to fall away....and not because you are critical. It's because you are naturally made to be a joyous, light hearted, radiant human being. Free that inner light.
I'm remembering when I was growing up how my mother (doesn't it always come back to our mothers?) would tell me not to be self-centered, not to be concerned with my looks, to be self-depreciating, and to not put myself first in my own life. Wow, just writing that makes the hair stand up on my neck. That kind of language, which we've all heard in one form or another, just doesn't serve our right to be beautiful, does it? We're not talking vanity here....I'm talking self-love and nurturing. Daughter of the Universe....Prince of the Universe...how do you like that salutation?.....be at peace with who you are. Stop prodding, squeezing, picking, wishing that you were something else, or someone else, or another size...or whatever it is. Just stop.
Shun what TV and magazines and the media feeds us. It's a steady stream of illusion designed to make us feel like we need what they're selling. I don't have to tell you about the onslaught we're faced with everyday. Turn away, turn within....and be glad you are unique. There are no two of us alike. Isn't that amazing? Embrace your selfhood. Embrace your womanhood. Embrace your manhood. Embrace each other. Hold your friends up to the light, tell them how beautiful they are. Hug them, compliment them. I make it a daily practice to hug a lot of people and to tell them how nice they look, a little lavishing goes a long way, it puts a spring in their step....it makes people glow. Try it. You'll glow too, and that my friend is the best beauty product out there. The glow of giving, loving, praising.
Until next time....blessings upon your beautiful heart
Cindy
"Shun what TV and magazines and the media feeds us. It's a steady stream of illusion designed to make us feel like we need what they're selling."
ReplyDeleteThis is so true -- well said. I mute the sound on TV ads -- all of them -- it improves TV watching hugely. -- Lindsay
TV sells "smoke and mirrors"......not at all what real women are interested in!
ReplyDelete