What is Beauty?
Everywhere we look there are images of beautiful women. In magazines, on TV, in the movies. They usually meet the same standards: thin, young, and blond. There have been a few changes in what is beautiful over the past few years. Hair and skin can be a little darker. Ethnically ambiguous is ok, but thin and blond is still the best. Heidi Klum, Giselle, and that girl from the latest Transformer movie. They are beautiful.
Once every few years a magazine will include a picture of a “normal sized” woman and everyone will get excited. She is probably a size eight and considered plus size. And she won’t be in a mainstream magazine for another few years. Then the fashion critics give Octavia Spencer a Best-Dressed award and say she “knows how to dress for her figure.”
And we wonder why we all feel the pressure to eat less, work out, and stay wrinkle free.
But if we look at the women in our lives and think about who we consider beautiful, we would find a very different answer.
My friends are all beautiful in different ways. I have a tiny, pocket sized friend who has the most infectious smile. Another friend has perfect corkscrew curls and skin the color of cinnamon. One has the cutest button nose and another has bright green eyes that make everyone stare. They are all regular women and they are amazingly beautiful.
When I think of each of them separately, I think of features. What stands out on them. But when I picture them all together, I can see the source of true beauty. It shines from inside them. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You can see it in their eyes. They actually sparkle. Their skin glows like they wear some sort of shimmery moisturizer. And don’t get me started on their smiles. It’s like they smile with their entire bodies.
Yes, my friends are freaking gorgeous. More beautiful than most of the women on TV and in the magazines.
Because beauty is more than having a flat stomach or professionally styled hair. Real beauty comes from confidence, from knowing and loving who you are. There are actresses and models who radiate beauty. Think about it, you’ll see what I mean. The ones who you look at in the magazines and think, “Damn, she looks good!” They are the same kind of beautiful as you and me.
Beauty shines on the outside, but its source is deep within.
Pick up a mirror and look at yourself. Really look. You’ll see that I’m right. Beautiful.
How do you define beauty? What do you think of the media interpretation?
Tomorrow, Friday February 10th, please check out August McLaughlin’s blog for the Beauty of a Woman Blog fest. There will be links to other blogs about beauty and a chance to win prizes, including a kindle. I hope you check it out.
That sparkly, shine that comes from within-yes!
It was so great to realize that it isn’t coming from the outside! I can’t wait to read your post!
One of my closest friends hates how she looks because she’s had three kids and now has a medical condition that prevents her from losing weight. I’ve always thought she was beautiful. Part of it is her eyes and her smile, but part of it is also what you said–there’s something inside her. She has a calm that just makes everyone around her feel better and feel understood. Great post
It seems like so many of us don’t realize our own beauty. Maybe we need to tell each other more often. You are beautiful.
I love your description of your beautiful friends. I feel the same about my friends, and it is NOT cheesy – it’s just true.
Thanks for saying it’s not cheesy. It felt a little Hallmark, but it is totally true.
This made me think of all my friends, too and you’re so right! They are all gorgeous woman. Not models but real woman who just sparkle! I need to tell them this, thank you
Yes, I think we all need to tell our friends more often.
“Beauty shines on the outside, but its source is deep within.” Beautifully expressed, Emma. I also love your description of your friends.
Thanks! That means a lot. I wondered if any of my friends would read and try to pick themselves out. So far, no one has said anything.
Great post! Yes it’s all how you feel inside, cuz you can be the most beautiful woman and people can tell you this but if you don’t believe it it’s not true in your mind. I think what they put in magazines are not real, first they don’t even eat normal,second they are always airbrushed. real beautiful women walk amongst us, they are our friends, family members,a cashier at your local supermarket, someone at your gym…they are even more beautiful when these women are kind and actually smile.
Yes, smiling makes all the difference, doesn’t it? It shows that we are happy with ourselves, just as we are now. Because we are beautiful right now!
What a beatutiful tribute to your friends, Emma. If only the rest of the world could look past the surface and see the beauty glowing from within each of us.
Thanks for the wonderful post.
Thanks, I hope that any friends who read it will feel it did them justice. We do need to focus more on the whole person, don’t we.
Yes, that shine from within! Sound like you know exactly what true beauty is and can see it all around you:)
Thanks for that. I think I do know what it is and I appreciate all the true beauty I see on a regular basis.
Great Post! I see my friends exactly like that. One has a smile that lights up a room. Another makes me laugh just hearing her voice, she’s alway upbeat with a crazy sense of humour.
It is amazing how beautiful our friends can be and sometimes they don’t realize it themselves. I hope you tell those friends exactly what you wrote here. They should know it!
Great post, Emma! Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Isn’t it wonderful to have women friends who can show up true beauty? we are so lucky to be so blessed, whether our friends are in person or on the web. thanks for a thought provoking post.
Yes, we are lucky! We just need to remember to tell our friends how beautiful they are from time to time.
What a beautiful post. I see that in friends too. They work so hard to fit the definition of beautiful, they never realize they are so much more lovely than that. Love how your friends smile with their whole bodies.
I’m glad you see it in your friends, too. I think sometimes we get so caught up in trying to fot the mold that we don’t recognize the beauty all around us.
Lovely!! Favorite part: Beauty shines on the outside, but its source is deep within. Perfectly said!
Glad you agree!
I agree with you. My friends are amazingly gorgeous too! It goes much deeper than what we see on the surface. You are also gorgeous! Great post Emma. Thanks for posting.
I think when we stop to look, there are a lot of beautiful people in the world! And you are one of them.
Oh definitely confident women are beautiful. And sometimes a little intimidating. You can feel the women who know they are beautiful because it oozes off of them. And ironically, it is often times the case that the most beautiful women physically are the most insecure. This beauty business is fickle.
You are beautiful Emma for noticing the beauty in others. And you spread your beauty around with that adorable smile and kind words.
This beautyfest blog Friday has been fun!
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
Isn’t that so true! One of my beautiful friends really doesn’t realize just how beautiful she is. It’s that whole thing of holding ourselves up against someone else’s standards. It’s hard on us.
I love this BlogFest, I’m discovering so many great blogs today! What a lovely post; it made me think of my absolute best friend in the entire world, with her beautiful curly hair and this smile that I’d honestly describe as “charming.” I don’t use the word charming much, but her smile fits that description perfectly. You’ve inspired me to go tell her that right now!
I’m so happy you are going to tell her! We definitely need to spend more time reminding each other how beautiful we are, and stop paying attention to standards portrayed by the media. Who’s standards are they anyway?
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful post. I love that you say it comes from the source within. Once we tap into that, our beauty is real and something that time can never take away.
I love what you said about time. It’s so true. One of the most beautiful people I know is well into her 80′s. And she is gorgeous!
I love changing my hair color and blond is the only one I cannot pull off. I think so much has to do with the je ne sais quoi factor. There is an energy around really confident people which has nothing to do with looks.
Great post1
Yes, I think it is an energy that comes off a people when they are truely beautiful. That French phrase is a good way to describe it.
Oh, Emma, I love this! This link struck such a chord with me: “Yes, my friends are freaking gorgeous. More beautiful than most of the women on TV and in the magazines.” Amen, sister. I’m oozing with that sentiment today especially.
You were the first to sign up and the first blog commented on at the fest. Go, beautiful you!
Thanks for organizing the fest, August. It was wonderful!
Emma, this is absolutely beautiful. None of my friends fit that narrow, teeny-tiny definition of what a woman “should” look like, and yet they are all absolutely exquisite, each in their own way.
Wonderful post, my dear!
There are a lot of beautiful people in the world when we quite trying to fit everyone in the Hollywood box, huh?
I love how you have picked out individuality in your friends and made them shine. We don’t all look alike and that is truly wonderful. Thanks, Emma.
That is true. It is the differences that make life exciting.
Beautiful and informative post – Emma
David in Maine USA
What a great tribute to your BFFs. They are really lucky to have you for a friend!
That’s very sweet. I am lucky to have them, too.
I loved your statement about confidence. A confident woman carries a kind of beauty unattainable from the best cosmetics, designer fashions and hair stylings.
Confidence really makes the woman, that is true.
What is Beauty is my reality so it touched home. Since moving to L.A. I have had complete strangers tell me I need to go to the gym or my fave is a woman who thought men were not attracted me and that I, April Bella was insecure! What! I love my curves and believe the men do too! I was once stopped by a very sexy young man who told me “You are my type, not the skinny blondes running all over this town” (L.A.). We are all beautiful, with or without curves. Thank you Emma!
You’re welcome! I think curves are beautiful, too. I enjoy being a woman, curves and all. I’m glad you do, too.
It’s so true and I see it in my friend’s too. The kindness in their souls comes through in their smiles and their eyes shine with true beauty. It’s an amazing thing, isn’t it?
It really is. Everyday beauty is the best kind, in my opinion.