Petals of Inspiration

Recognizing Our Inner Beauty.

For me, beauty can be found in the smallest of things. Being happy and seeing things that make your heart smile, and your soul sing is something most of us don't even realise we are doing each day. I've always been connected to nature and am drawn to trees; they are magnificent masterpieces with such wisdom. Another connection I have is with animals; they bring a smile to my face, and I can sit and watch them go about their daily routines for hours.

To define beauty is to appreciate and absorb the simple things life offers. A sense of happiness ignites within me, and I feel content and blessed. Finding beauty in other things is not hard to do, but finding beauty in yourself is more complicated. I believe we listen to far too many negative comments in our lives. Society is conditioned through social media, magazines, and others, which determine how we perceive ourselves. At some point in our lives, we hold onto negativity, which, inturn, we lose the true essence of beauty each of us has to offer. We are all harsh on ourselves and find it extremely difficult to silence the voices in our minds.

For instance. I've often been told how beauty radiates from within me, and I still feel uncomfortable and awkward hearing those compliments. Yes, I think these compliments are not genuine, and this is because of my past life experiences and how I have let my beauty go unrecognised.

How do we break such learned behaviour?

We all struggle and lose ourselves; I know I have many times. It is okay, as we all live and learn. However, it has the most impact when the struggles take hold of our minds and lie dormant within ourselves, and we carry them on through our lives. We don't acknowledge and release them; we are left with constant reminders. As I always say, 'Tomorrow is a new day'. Self-care allows your body and mind the time out they deserve.

If we all put as much effort into saying something beautiful about a person instead of a damaging negative comment, we would all live in a more desirable world with all the self-love for ourselves we were born to feel. I remember an example quite clearly; an activity I participated in with a women's group many years ago. The activity was to cut out the shape of our hands and write our names on the hand. We then passed it around the group, and each person wrote what beauty they saw in that person. It was a wonderful experience when we all got our hands back and saw all the beautiful things others saw.

We are all beautiful in every meaning of the word. Like me, all of us take small steps to self-love. It is a confronting thing, but think of this; all walks of life have a beating heart that connects us all.

Remember that the love you show others can also be demonstrated to ourselves; we must learn that loving ourselves is a life journey.

Kelly Amanda Lee

Reborn the Rose