On the Subject of Beauty

Jen Kiaba wrote (another) wonderful post yesterday where she asked: “How do we define beauty in our daily lives? How do we define beauty in ourselves?”

She continues: “Today we are so inundated with false ideals of beauty that aren't attainable. Even the people who are represented in these idealized forms don't actually conform to the ideal.”

I agree to it all. I truly think beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
“Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." (David Hume)

I also know that people who are at peace with themselves, with what they are, often times shine. They are beautiful and “attractive”.

So when Jen asked: “Do you feel beautiful?" at the end of her post, I thought I would comment right away. But I simply could. Not.

The truth is I can not honestly say I feel beautiful. And I hate being photographed. I think I have some “interesting” features, and I like “parts” of me, parts of who I am. But beautiful...? Shining through? Nope.

So what does this tells me?

• That I have double-standards as I tend to be more critical of myself than of others.
• That I still have a lot of work to do on myself!
• That I should take pictures of myself or have someone take pictures of me more often. Habituation plays a large part on how we perceive things and beauty.
• That I unfortunately carry with me some of the clichés of beauty even if I don’t want to:(

Beauty, like supreme dominion
Is but supported by opinion (Benjamin Franklin)

Jen is right when she writes: “But I do think it would behoove us to ever so slightly begin to redefine what we consider to be beautiful - and how we perceive beauty within ourselves.”

I more deeply realized that yesterday and did not wait to start. Thank you Jen.

My turn now to ask you: Do feel beautiful? I truly hope you do:)


Patricia

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