What’s inside you – and why does it matter?
We’ve all heard it said so many times before: it’s what’s inside that matters. It’s been repeated so often, it’s become a cliché … it’s almost lost its meaning.
This is a great pity, because while the words may sound hollow, they are filled with deep and ancient truth.
True beauty is the beauty that comes from within: a beautiful soul is the secret ingredient to being truly beautiful.
This begs the question, what is it, inside each of us, that truly matters?
What are the facets of inner beauty?
I’m so glad you asked.
Inner beauty is built on five core facets*:
- self-acceptance
- balance
- emotional well-being
- changes of perceptions of beauty
- self-care
The good news is that inner beauty can be groomed as easily as outward beauty. You see, when you make inner beauty a daily practice, you realise that you can only grow more beautiful (rather than less) with the passage of time.
This flies in the face of the modern “wisdom” that fills the media, terrifying us with inevitable passage of time, the toll it takes on our looks, the implied loss of value of the human soul as it ages. Fuelled by the transparent goal of selling more overpriced anti-aging products, the media propagates this view that each of us is only as attractive as we are young and flawless, and that every effort must be made, no expense can be spared, in the endless, exhausting pursuit of eternal youth.
Author Libby Weaver said it perfectly:
“With more time on this beautiful planet can come wisdom, emotional maturity, spiritual growth … each stage of life offers us beautiful opportunities to experience our own inner and outer beauty.”
Being Beautiful: A Sacred Duty
Sharing your own beauty encourages others to do the same. If you hide your beauty away, others feel compelled to hides theirs away, too. It’s almost as if our culture has built a strange cult around excessive beauty bashing. We’re taught to be modest, and we’ve been deceived into thinking that “modesty” is the same as actually denying that we have any beauty at all.
Marianne Williamson explains it perfectly: “When you allow your own light to shine, you unconsciously allow others to do the same.“
shine your light, you beauty
You see, true beauty creates more of itself in everyone else. And when you allow your own true beauty to shine through, everyone else begins to feel that they have permission to do the same.
Slowly but surely, as we acknowledge our own beauty, we ignite the beauty in every person we meet. It becomes contagious, spreading light and joy throughout the world. Each of us, then, becomes capable of changing the world. And it starts with the simplest of actions: simply realise: you, darling one, are beautiful.
*Find out more about the five facets of true inner beauty, and how to groom them in your own life, in The True Beauty Book, available now on Amazon.