In the Eyes of the Beholder

beauty |ˈbyoōtē|noun ( pl. -ties)1 a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight.

You desire to be beautiful. Everyone does. And I'm not just talking women. Don't blame the media, or the innumerable controversial images you are bombarded with daily. In your heart of hearts you long for it.

Initially, we think maybe we just want to look good, but in reality it's something else, something better. Perhaps we don't even know what it is.

I believe we desire beauty in everything. We want to create it, master it, be surrounded by it. Subconsciously we look for it, and if we don't find it, something inside us aches for it. There is goodness in beauty. Beauty emits joy and pleasure. It has the ability to gratify more than merely our sense of sight. It calms, soothes, even comforts our spirit.

Do you agree with me so far?

Good.

Beauty is also a tool. Just like most good things, often beauty is twisted and vain. It is abused, exploited, and manipulated for ulterior motives.

Furthermore, beauty is misunderstood.

Like art, it is difficult to define beauty in its fulness. What makes something beautiful? Are there stipulations? Not in most cases. Different cultures, different people, see beauty differently.

Perhaps it really is in the eyes of the beholder. I have met people who are not physically beautiful by today's standards, and yet their confidence, their joy, their humor, their heart, and their love create in them a greater sort of beauty.

All this to say:

You can find beauty in things that do not seem beautiful. Do not judge too quickly! Do not be oblivious to the presence within the body--the soul. Beauty is not found in the image. The mirror is not our standard, our mind is.

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

I hope you find this encouraging! Look for beauty in unexpected places; not only within yourself, but within others.

{dm}