by Natalie Lynn Borton
Below is an introduction to a series on beauty I’ve been writing for Darling Magazine since mid-December. My hope is that through exploring the qualities that make women truly attractive, we can learn about what real beauty is made of, start living it out, and inspire others to do the same. I hope you’ll join me in pursuing true beauty in 2012!
We’ve all met that woman–the one who is so radiant we can’t take our eyes off of her. She’s beautiful, but we can’t quite figure out why. Is it her hair? Her figure? Her clothes? After speaking with her for a few moments, we know that her beauty is far beyond the physical. She exudes something lovely, contagious and rare.
I can only imagine how powerful it would be if we all grew into that kind of woman I just described–if we all started accepting who we are, loving our bodies, understanding our true value, and spreading real beauty wherever we go.
In my last article Healthy Girl Talk: Redefining Beauty, I talked about the need our culture has to redefine beauty for what it really is–so much more than physical appearance. I also shared four steps we can all take each day that will contribute to that redefinition: use positive language when talking about bodies, focus on the function of our body parts, celebrate non-physical qualities, and live a beautiful life by demonstrating those non-physical qualities.
In the coming weeks, I’m going to expand on that article by discussing various qualities of beauty that we could all afford to have a little more of in this world: kindness, joy, compassion, love, generosity and confidence. After all, how can we affirm others and live out these qualities if we don’t fully understand what they look like?
Let’s explore together what real beauty looks like. Let’s redefine beauty by the way we speak and act. Let’s take the big risk of being examples for the women we interact with each day. Wouldn’t that be something revolutionary?
What does true beauty look like to you? How do you pursue it in your own life?
P.S. You can read all of the entries in the series here. Enjoy!
