30 days of self love – our outward beauty
Posted: September 13, 2010 at 7:34 amLooks like we’re back to Monday. Let’s start the day and week off right by appreciating ourselves and the fabulous lives that bless us. If you need to catch up from the weekend, visit my posts on Jealousy & Seeking Control – two topics we all should take a closer look at within ourselves.
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During the 30 Days of Self-Love Reflections, we have spent time looking at many varying topics that relate to living our best life and loving ourselves fully in the process. We discuss aspects of our minds (perspective), our bodies (trusting their intuitive nature), and our hearts (love from others motivating love for self).
Our inner workings truly make us beautiful. Our outward characteristics do so as well…and not just because what our bodies can do, like we share in the gifts of the body posts. We must also believe the term “beautiful” can be an accurate way to describe our physical appearance.
No two people on this Earth share the exact same physical characteristics. Even identical twins up close display different features thanks to different experiences and preferences. The uniqueness of you alone is enough to make you beautiful. We each have alluring qualities in which we can build our confidence and recognize as attractive.
[Dove campaign]
We cannot definitively define beauty as each culture and every individual within that culture holds a distinct opinion of what classifies beauty. Do not allow the trap of popular opinion to ensnare you into thinking you lack beauty. That simply is not true. Find what you think makes you beautiful and take pride in it. What feature do you deep within your gut know makes you physically beautiful? Do not believe any different and bask in the gratification of honoring your unique appeal.
We must not forget that outward appearance does not define our worth as a whole. However, me must also feel free to declare our beauty on the outside. We all desire it…and we all have it. What physical characteristic makes you beautiful? I have always received compliments on my eyes and I truly think they are beautiful. They are big and a vibrant green. I love how unique they are to me.
Quotes to Reflect On
There is no beauty on earth which exceeds the natural loveliness of woman.—J. Petit-Senn
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*For more 30 Days Inspiration visit these bloggers who shared their personal 30 DSLR messages and let me know if you share anything relating to the 30 DSLR on your blog! Also, check out Faces of Beauty if you haven’t already! It shares a similar concept on a daily basis. 🙂
- Two Feet Ten Toes
- Adventures in Weight Loss, Cooking, and Life
- Ulterior Harmony
- Miranda’s Jeans
- Adventure Is Out There
Tags: self-love reflections
Beautiful post Tina…
Raising my hand high over here! I spent the majority of my life debating my beauty according to what I thought the world thought was beautiful. I don’t think I ever appreciated not only the beauty in myself but the unique beauty in others. How sad is that? I don’t know why that happened when I was a scared 6th grader…or a less than confident freshman…
But luckily we all can redefine who we truly are and how we want to live our life every single day! So now, I am learning to fall in love with me in the best way I can. According to me, not according to the US Weekly standards. 🙂
I too think that my eyes are absolutely beautiful! They are a haze of green and blue, just like my mom but my eye lashes are long and thick…just like my grandad. Now that is beautiful!
So neat that we both used the Dove campaign in our posts today!
I agree that outward beauty isn’t the enemy, although sometimes it seems to be. The true enemy is not realizing that we ALL have outward beauty! 🙂
I was lookng at a picture of my beautiful niece yesterday. I noticed something. She has my eyebrows and my chin! The point I am trying to make is that family characteristics make me feel beautiful. It proves that I belong to someone and something greater than just me. And I find my niece so gorgeous, so those features are beautiful on me, too!
Exactly!! I’m sure she is gorgeous and you are as well. 🙂
I’m going with my legs. Although they are thicker now than I want them to be and I’m having a huge disconnect with them right now because I feel they are letting me down physically, I still get comments on them all the time.
I also love that I have the Green girls legs. Mine may be a variance on the others, but I come from a family of women who have identical legs. It’s fun to share that trait with my Grandma, Mom, aunts and girls cousins.
I love the idea of embracing our outward beauty as well. I mean yes, learning that we are beautiful on the inside is important, but there is something very strong to looking in the mirror and liking what you see. I have big facial features – including eyes and lips – which I think are seen as classically pretty features 🙂
They certainly are beautiful features. I always think you are strikingly beautiful when I see your pictures. 🙂
Lovely post. Even though outward beauty shouldn’t define you, I agree that we should take the time to appreciate something about ourselves more often.
I like my eyes. My eyes are hazel and change daily between more green or more brown. I have long eyelashes that I think draw attention to my eye color. Finally, I have Brooke Shield-ish full eyebrows. While they may not always be in fashion, I think they make my face unique.
And whether or not they are in fashion doesn’t matter anyways. 😉 Like you said, they make you unique and that is beautiful.
My freckles. I hated them when I was younger, because they made me different. Now I love them because they make me different.
It is ok to think you are beautiful! I think sometimes it’s more acceptable to say what you don’t like about yourself and put yourself down than it is to say “I think I’m beautiful”. It’s not conceited. It’s ok and deserved.
Very good point. We all want to seem modest and putting ourselves down has almost become a bonding thing among women. We shouldn’t do that to ourselves. We should lift each other up consistently!
Wow! I loved this post and couldn’t agree more. Beauty is so subjective and everyone is beautiful in some way.
I have a really hard time with this topic. I don’t like to be too personal online but from the time I was a very small toddler when looked in the mirror I remember being called “vain” by a family member. It caused me to think that I was supposed to see myself as ugly if other people were to like me.
I know now that I’m not ugly but I certainly don’t look into the mirror and think beautiful.
Not sure what my best trait is? I like my tummy but last year had to have a mole removed and now I have a red puffy scar. 🙁
Isn’t is amazing how a comment from someone in our past, especially when we were so young, can stay with us and have such an impact on how we view things?
I hope by the end of the day you look into the mirrow and see how beautiful and unique you are. That is not vain at all. 🙂
I love my smile… It’s a little “gum-y” but it’s mine and I actually receive a lot of compliments on it 🙂 Plus, I am a happy person and smile a LOT!
I love your smile!!! It’s big and bright and whenever I see it I get happy too. Like in your post with the veggie enchiladas. I looked at it this morning when making up my grocery list since you gave me inspiration to make those. And then I got happy reading your post bec you seemed so happy in it. 😀
I love those Dove campaign posters.
I think I am beautiful, but then I stare at myself long enough and see the imperfections. But, if I am feeling good about myself, I know that my arms are beautiful: they have nice definition, they are strong, they are lightly tanned and they allow me to do so many things! I get compliments on my eyes as well — they are hazel and I have been asked if I wear colored contacts because they are so bright and beautiful. 🙂
The characteristic that makes me beautiful is my smile.
[…] and it’s OK. Check out more on the subject over on Tina’s blog with today’s 30 Days of Reflection: Outward […]
I loved catching up over the weekend on the posts and replies. I gain so much from all of you and come away with a new perspective on things.
I have a mole at the corner of my eye. I hated it so much growing up. I tried to part my hair to cover it. People would tease me that I drew it on. I so wanted to remove it. I finally came to love the fact that it makes me unique and that it draws attention to my blue eyes which I feel are my most beautiful feature.
i’ve seen a huge difference in the way i approach life and the world in general when i decided that i KNOW i’m beautiful and no one can convince me otherwise! love it 🙂
there’s no one else in the world like me, and that alone makes me beautiful. amen 🙂
I have always loved that photo from Dove (and their whole campaign). I’ve decided to make my least favorite feature in the past, my legs, my new favorite feature. I’m very short (4’11”) and have always struggled to love my legs. I used to think that they are stubby and chunky, but now that I’m in a steady routine of working out, I look at them in a different light: they are strong, powerful, muscular, and fit. Who wouldn’t want legs like mine? 🙂
How awesome to turn around what you once thought of as negative!!! That’s strength right there. It shows a lot of growth to love yourself that way. I know many, including myself, have such a hard time letting go of their perceived weak parts.
Thank you for the Dove reference, needs to be more natural beauty in the spotlight.
You are def the cutest prego woman I have met! My eyes are super green and I love them! Thanks to my dad:)
It bothers me that how I feel about my self can go from a high to low quickly but atleast I’m not always thinking negativly about myself I’ve I used to.
When you feel those lows coming really focus on the things that make you happy with who you are. Repeat them over and over. Believe that you have worth and are beautiful. Because you are. Say it. I’m beautiful…and I’m worth happiness. Nothing and nobody can bring me down.
I love what you said about not relying on popular thinking to see our own beauty! I’ve found that comparing yourself – which, for me was QUITE the norm for a long,long time – gets you no where! Easier said than done, but I just try to think about my positive attributes that make me ME. Like my curly hair, my height, and my smile. 🙂
Another wonderful and inspiring post, Tina!! I have such a tough time recognizing physical traits and calling them beautiful…as far as I have come, I still never want to seem vain…and I know theres a BIG difference between vain and confident!! If I had to pick, I guess I would say my eyes, I love the color of my eyes, and love playing with makeup to enhance their beauty!
I look a lot like my mother. Some pictures of her when she was younger are indistinguishable from pictures of me. She is beautiful, and I inherited that from her too- we have lovely smiles that crinkle our noses and eyes, strong, capable bodies, and although my eyes are usually brownish looking, whenever I wear green I can see flecks of her eye color in mine.
I also feel like my eyes are my most physically attractive feature! Lately I’ve also been liking the way my arms look! I know I am strong! Great post Tina!
I have always received compliments on my build – I am tall and thin. I haven’t always been at peace with this because I often feel too tall and skinny but I’m learning to appreciate the fact that I can see over others and reach things that are high up!
Great post!
Love the post! Everyone tells me I look exactly like my Mom. I’ve always thought she was beautiful but it didn’t hit me that looking like her means I am also beautiful. We share the same blue eyes, dark hair, and square jaw. While I find flaws in these things on myself I see them as stunning on her. I guess I need to look at them as I look at her
Embracing outward beauty has always been a problem for me. I never wanted to seem vain or conceited. I was also always worried that allowing myself to be actually like how I look and be confident would have other people thinking, “Why is she so confident? She’s not that pretty.” It always goes back to me being afraid of how others view me, as irrational as it may be. This goes with more than just appearance as well. It’s something I’m working on and I am starting to be able to embrace my appearance. I still have a hard time thinking I am beautiful.
That said, I get most compliments on my hair and my eyes. My hair is blonde with natural highlights/lowlights in it. A lot of people think I dye it, but I don’t.
Great post Tina! I love coming here for the inspiration!!
I think that it is so important to feel your beauty inside and out. There was time where I didn’t believe that I was beautiful and didn’t see what other people were telling me, but when I stopped listing off all the areas I had “cellulite” or this or that, I realized that this is me, and I am beautiful!
Love this post!
xxoo
I love the Dove Campaign! I would like to see more initiatives like that! 🙂
I am way too hard on myself at times, and I definitely need to work on it. These posts are great. Keep them comin 🙂
I agree. Finding yourself beautiful on the outside I think is just as important as finding yourself beautiful on the inside. However, as I have started to focus on the inside…i automatically feel better on the outside.
You have to be able to look at yousrelf in the mirror most days and say “dang, I look good!”
Love the 30 Days of Self-Love series! Great posts!
I think if people took the time to focus on who they were truly made to be, and their unique qualities and personalities-we wouldn’t be so concerned about what we look like on the outside.
proverbs 31:30
“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised”
I do believe in taking care of ourselves and nurturing our physical beauty, but not at the expense of our inner beauty.
I’m lucky enough to have many parts of my body that get compliments, but I always even manage to criticize those!
Eyes – “Oh, but the one ALWAYS squints when I smile or in pictures”
Hair – “Oh, but the curls get so frizzy”
Cheekbones – “Oh, but I look like a chipmunk”
You get the idea. I need to lose the “Oh, but…”
i love the way you keep it in perspective, and it makes it even more meaningful because i know this post is part of your passion and you honestly want women to embrace who they are for the way they are without feeling that theres a part of them that would be better off if they could change it some something a group of people may believe is more beautiful <3
thank you!!
xoxo
My hair has never failed me. I always get compliments on it – just got one today from the photographer taking my school picture. I am very thankful to have thick, shiny hair.
You DO have such pretty eyes!! 🙂
I’ve gotta go with hips. Didn’t expect that one, did ya? They’ve always been slim, and I’ve really appreciated that. I didn’t think I’d be able to deliver babies because I thought that I had a narrow pelvis. But out she came, naturally, and I am so proud of my “child-bearing” hips! 🙂
Great, awesome post, Tina! You’re facilitating some genuine soul-searching here.
Here is my post on the topic:
http://ulteriorharmony.blogspot.com/2010/09/view-from-hereup-for-this-week-our.html
love
Ela
Surprisingly, this one wasn’t as tough as I feared. I’ve always liked my smile and my beautiful blue eyes. They might not make me conventionally pretty, but I’m cute enough … and I’ve always been blessed with remarkably clear skin.
I LOVE this line : “The uniqueness of you alone is enough to make you beautiful.”
I’ve had the same unique, wonky-esque smile since I was born and I used to hate it. But now I love it because it’s uniquely me 🙂
[…] is the lead topic over at Tina’s blog […]
I have come to love my forehead. I was teased as a kid about it by a boy all throughout elementary school.
Check out my post :
http://www.mirandasjeans.com/?p=4182
I love my feet – I know no matter how awful they look, or how desperately I need a pedicure (I only go to get the foot massage – lol) I know they can carry me (or run me) anywhere. Plus – they never feel fat!
My eyes. I’m always receiving compliments on them, and they’re the one feature I appreciate most. I was slowly losing my vision when I was overweight, and it scared me into making sure I took care of myself so that I would never lose my ability to see everything and everyone that blesses my beautiful life.
Well, I am a day late for this one, but better late than never!
I’ve always liked my eyes best, because they are an unusual gold color, but right now I am liking my legs. They are kind of skinny, so those muscles (calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes) were the first area that became defined when I started lifting, and the visible sign of success was very rewarding.
The thing I always find myself coming back to is just how much what we feel on the inside shows on the OUTSIDE. How often is the most radiant girl in the room the skinniest or the most toned? Rarely. instead, it is someone who glows with the inner peace that comes from accepting yourself as you are.
I’m super late here, but I loved reading all the comments that everyone made about their outer beauty! I think it is so important to recognize that the physical DOES hold weight and it is OKAY to admit that and to practice feeling good about how you LOOK.
My favorite physical features are my breasts, my eyebrows, and my hair.
I get lots of compliments on my eyes too, Tina! They’re green as well 🙂 I love them! Proud to be a green-eyed-girl 🙂 Other than that, my favorite physical feature is my legs. I used to HATE them when I was younger (teenager) b/c they real skinny and I was really insecure w/them … I’d never wear skirts/shorts b/c I hated them. I used to get called “Flamingo” b/c of them! Now, they’re perfect to me; skinny works for me now at age 26! Haha 🙂
[…] time to overanalyse things if they are sprung on me… so here I go with today’s theme: Our outward beauty. Our inner workings truly make us beautiful. Our outward characteristics do so as well…and not […]
Tina
So ingrained is my self-deprecating behaviour that I found this one really hard. I seriously didn’t feel as if any part of my body was worthy of being called attractive.
But, I finally decided on my smile.
http://dietschmiet.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/30-days-day-13-our-outward-beauty/
Deb
[…] – some days, it won’t be much more than the day’s reflection on self love. So, today’s reflection: Tina points out that “we must not forget that outward appearance does not define our worth as a whole. However, we […]
I think I get complimented on my hair a lot. A lot of people wish they had as straight of hair as me, and as soft. Although it’s very thin, I’m thankful that it’s light weight especially during hot summer days. I like my hair, even though it doesn’t do much. But even if it did, I’d be too lazy to try. 😉