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Remember how yesterday I said I wanted to continue with what I had learned about beauty?

Today I got an email from one of my favorite people who sent me this from this blog: 

Real Beauty is…

• the courage to stand up for what you believe in,
• extending a hand (or more) to help those in need
• experiencing life in all its richness…the good…the challenging…the unexpected…with the openness of a child and the eye of an artist
• sharing your best self and to accept your imperfections as part of that best self (those things that make you uniquely you)
• offering encouragement and energy and enthusiasm with the world, and acknowledging when you need the same from others
• being filled with wonder and awe about what life has to offer and what you have to offer that life
• allowing grief to flow through you until you can raise your head again and say “I have not only survived, I have learned, I have grown, I have taken something powerful and meaningful from this experience”
• learning all you can and sharing what you can with those who also want to learn
• siting in silence and being comfortable with who you are and what you are experiencing in that moment
• mentoring others so they can explore their greatness and serve the greatest needs of the world
• savoring the simple pleasures and the extraordinary “once in a lifetimes” with equal abandon
• loving your “real” self and honor the “real” self in others
• sharing a spiritual connection with everyone you meet, regardless of religion or philosophy or opinion
• offering blessings (both in word and in thought) to others on a regular basis
• caring for and about yourself in the same ways you care for and about others and the world
• regularly asking, “is what I’m about to say or think or do serve the greatest good for all concerned?”
• celebrating the tiniest of “wins” and the most modest of progress as lusciously as you celebrate the most significant of accomplishments
• living in a powerful state of gratitude and showing authentic appreciation to others in your life (including yourself)
• realizing that real beauty is not seen or appreciated only in the shell of a body, but rather felt and shared because it is everything inside that shell and everything you interact with andimpact that surrounds that shell.

Real beauty is a state of mind and a series of actions and a sharing of experiences. It is the stuff of miracles.

necklace from here

I absolutely love her list so much. The thing is sometimes it is so hard to really truly believe that beauty is based on those things. It is easy to doubt yourself.

We have to redefine beauty for ourselves. We need to accept and love ourselves. And then we need to realize that I am enough. Me. Right now. The way I am. Each of us has to do it.

But as I was thinking more about it I realized that just redefining it for ourselves is NOT enough. We need to redefine the definition of beauty that is accepted for the world. If we could do that then we would stop judging and comparing each other so much. And so much of what brings us to the confusion in the first place would be gone.


So then later this afternoon I was reading this blog and found out that there is a chance to do exactly that RIGHT now. Most of you probably have heard of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty at one point or another. Well currently they are are sponsoring a movement for self-esteem.  The goal: create a world where every girl grows up with the self-esteem she needs to reach her full potential, where every woman feels confident in her own beauty and where we all help build self-esteem in the people we love most. (Does that not sound like exactly what I was thinking about? Coincidence? I think not.) 


Here is their current video:

























As part of this movement they are sponsoring the Dove Self-Esteem Weekend. THIS weekend! October 22-24. Click here for details.

They want you to spend one hour with a girl in your life to help build her self-esteem.

I'm totally going to do it. Who's in on this one with me? It's one hour. That's all. Please?

Regardless of whether or not you do anything this weekend here is a link to some fabulous resources like ideas for activities to do this weekend, ways to talk about these issues, etc...

I'm so impressed by Dove and what they have been doing. Did you ever see this video?

Or this one?

And this one wasn't as popular but how fabulous?

"Let's make peace with beauty." I love that.

I just think that ultimately we have to redefine beauty for ourselves and then redefine for others. We have to stop beating ourselves up, we have to stop judging others and then we all have to make a stand to promote true beauty. This isn't something we should accept for ourselves and then stop with. We should encourage young women (and adult women) in learning their worth and developing their talents so that they will see someone of value in the mirror. We should teach young men (and adult men) to express appreciation for women who exhibit truly beautiful characteristics. We should stand up against anything whether it is the media or whether it is our own negative thoughts that tell us we are anything but. It will still be something that each person has to learn on their own, for themselves but maybe we can redefine enough that it won't be so hard for them to learn it.

Maybe I'm dreaming big. But I just think that the experience I had with Recapturing Beauty cannot stop there. And I think the best way to share that with others will be to help everyone redefine and appreciate true beauty.

What do you think? Can we do it? Can we change how we think about ourselves and then how we think about others? Is it even possible? Because I'm sure going to be trying. And I'll be doing it this weekend. You should, too.