Inner Beauty: Pretty Can Be Unattractive

When most of us think of beauty, we think of outer beauty. We picture celebrities, movie stars, singers and such with their ever flowing shinny hair. We think of their blemish free, airbrushed complexions. Our imaginations picture what society has told us is beauty. If truth be told when we hear that someone possesses inner beauty, we smirk and think they must not possess outer beauty-they must be unattractive. We all know the story, a friend tells us about his cousin. The friend tells us that the cousin has the most beautiful soul, they have a tremendous amount of inner beauty and all the while we know what we are thinking-not attractive.

One of my all time favorite groups had a song that states it best "Beauty's Only Skin Deep." This group just didn't take it quite far enough. Don't get me wrong outer beauty is a wonderful thing especially if it is combined with inner beauty. Inner beauty can be described as the essence of who you are. It is all the good inside you that glows outside you. The most wonderful thing about inner beauty is that you can always obtain it-without surgery.

When you have inner beauty, it flows from within. It starts in your heart with every beat. Each time your heart beats, the beauty that you have inside grows even more. Inner beauty does not fade as we age; it grows and illuminates even more. The aging process allows our inner beauty to shine when our outer beauty is no longer there for others to see.

As our heart beats, it becomes the rhythm of the expression of our compassion and love. The love we feel for ourselves, others and our faith. I do believe that you cannot have inner beauty without some type of faith. Faith enables us to love others as we would like for them to love us. Faith in itself is inner beauty. The beauty of inner beauty as with faith is unseen and hard to describe, it's just there.

As with outer beauty inner beauty takes time. When we get up in the morning for the most part, none of us is actually beautiful looking. We have to get the sleep out of our eyes and start the regiment of looking beautiful. We wash our face and begin to moisturize our face, and then apply our makeup. Inner beauty takes time, but it can be done even while we are asleep. There is no need to do anything, but allow it to grow and to nurture itself. As long as we look inside ourselves and beyond the world our inner beauty will continue to grow.

Inner beauty is contagious. It can be given to others without them even knowing they have contracted it. As it grows in your heart, it begins to radiate all around you. It becomes that "something" that people say you have. You don't feel any different, but everyone around you feels "it" as soon as you enter a room. It's not the clothes you have on or the purse you carry, it's all about you without you even knowing it. There is no conceit in your steps, you exude only confidence.

ABC had a show out called "True Beauty". It was suppose to be about the inner beauty of get this--beautiful people. I never watched the program, but the premise was the participants though they were being judged solely on their outer beauty, but in reality they were being judged on their inner beauty. They were put into situations that would demonstrate supposedly what was actually in their hearts. I'm not quite sure this show was even close to reality, but the contestants may have taken away more than a prize, they may have taken away the beginning of inner beauty.

Even though inner beauty starts in the heart, in order for it to reach its full power potential it has to grow simultaneously in the head. Almost all people are born with a good heart, but somewhere along the way, they don't let their head connect with their heart. The head and the heart must work together as one. If one does possess inner beauty, there is not a conscious thought as to the well being of others it's just there because of the equation-heart plus head equals inner beauty.

Have you ever heard someone say that a person looks like a nice person? Usually it is just something about them-a smile, glimmer in their eyes or something that just shines when no words are spoken-they have inner beauty.

Inner beauty is ageless. The newborn baby has it as does the elderly man in the nursing home. The toddler has it and so does the teenager with his sagging pants. The child missing their two front teeth has it as does the lady with her two front teeth missing. The beauty of inner beauty is that it is available to everyone.