Think beauty is only skin deep? Inform your beauty philosophy with some great thoughts on what being beautiful really means.
Beauty writers spend a lot of time writing about products or treatments that brighten the skin, nourish split ends or make nails strong. Rarely do they talk about the philosophy of beauty (it doesn’t sell products, that’s why).
There’s lots of great information out there on how you can best take care of yourself – from the best products to use and skincare regimens to follow. But there is a secret ingredient to attractiveness that has nothing to with which cream you use, or whether you take your make up off every night – it’s what I call presence. You’ve noticed it if you’ve ever met someone who you’ve felt compelled to look at when they weren’t conventionally attractive, but there was something about them that meant you couldn’t tear your eyes away.
What’s behind a stunning presence? The recent hit Dove campaign got it half-right. In the Dove campaign–which has now been viewed more than 114 million times making it the most watched ad of all time—a group of women describe their own faces to a forensic artist who is behind a curtain and cannot see them, and then to a stranger who also describes them to the forensic artist. The women find, to their delight, that the stranger’s portrayal of them is significantly more attractive than their own description of themselves. The tagline of the campaign is: “You are more beautiful than you think,” but it only went so far to address a larger beauty truth – a woman becomes more beautiful when her appearance reflects her true self. Is it plausible that the mental attitude you have about the way you look impacts how beautiful you actually are?
It’s an interesting idea that gives pause to some of the more unproductive thought loops we get caught up in around how we look, and issues that seem to so unnerve us, like aging, or even just the quest to find that “holy grail” skincare product. That it might also be the path towards releasing us from our need to have others think we are beautiful – is a potential freedom we might never have even considered. And while its certainly seems a radical approach, great thinkers through the ages also seem to agree that the radiance that drives true beauty arises from a deeper place.
Are you thinking you want to reevaluate your beauty philosophy? Here are some great quotes to inspire you.
1. “The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.” – Audrey Hepburn
2. “When you spend your days doing what fulfills you, you are attractive”. –Thomas J. Leonard
3. “Give me beauty in the inward soul; And may the outward and inward be at one.” – Socrates
4. “To see beauty as the face of love rather than the arbitrary gift of fortune is… to enlarge our sense of life’s possibilities.” – Elizabeth Zetzel Lambert
5. “Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka
6. “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” – Kahlil Gibran
7.”Taking joy in living is a woman’s best cosmetic.” – Rosalind Russell
8.“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius
9. “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.” –Dorothy Parker
10. “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Top Image: Tommerton2010