If you know me at all you will know that beauty and fashion aren’t my top priorities. God, family, friends, and food are my focus. But I do have an amazing beauty secret to reveal that I think you will need to ponder for a bit. It is painless, simple to use, and the best thing is.. it’s free!

Since my last post focused on the “fountain of youth” it got me to evaluate this whole notion of beauty. It struck me that the true and honest definition of beauty is: BE  U to a T

These epiphanies come sometimes when I am out for a walk. Recently I passed these two bushes side by side.

And I wondered how it is that humans are so obsessed with their appearance and comparing themselves to one another. When I saw these bushes I thought do they look at each other and say “Like oh my God I totally want to get my leaves lightened like hers, I wonder if hers are natural highlights”.  Then I saw a rose bush next to some tulips and I thought do they say “I’m totally gonna go have my petals plumped like hers”.

Nature seems to accept themselves as is because a rose can’t be a tulip it can only be the best rose it can be! At what age does this dreaded desire to change one’s appearance strike? My four year old granddaughter seems to have the beauty secret! A perfect example of this was when she recently went for a haircut and the stylist offered to blow dry and straighten her hair. She politely said, “No thank you I like my curls just the way God made them!”

People ask me sometimes why I left “Hollywood” and do I not miss it? To be honest there was so much plastic surgery going on that it was truly frightening! Though I haven’t had any myself people actually asked and/or assumed I had since everyone else was doing it!  Everyday you see pictures in magazines (and websites devoted to this) of people who went in for a ‘nip and tuck’ and came out a botched mess! Yikes! I wouldn’t be surprised if research finds out in the not too distant future that injecting Botox (a botulism toxin, hence the name botox, hello) and fillers cause all sorts of other ailments! It paralyzes your facial muscles! Apparently people don’t want to actually show emotions such as surprise, happiness and love on their faces!?

Look, I’m not judging anyone that has done these things, it’s  just not for me! I am who I am, the way God made me. I can only be a better version of myself. Yes I try being healthy and of course make sure to groom (I do think it is important to bathe folks). But I have no regrets and I accept how God made me! And I have no regrets what my “meat suit” looks like after 50 years on earth! Even looking back I am so happy I didn’t get my broken nose fixed. Why? Because years ago my precious dog Jack  jumped up and bonked his head into my nose and broke it. He is no longer with us and I miss him everyday. He sadly passed away  after giving us 14 amazing years. And now every time I feel that little bump I think of him! Besides, truth be told, I would be scared to death to go “under the knife” electively! It is one thing if it is a necessity to get medical attention. But seemingly there are people who are actually addicted to having “work done” and each and every surgery, procedure, and injection doesn’t lead them to more happiness just more surgery, procedures, and injections!

It helps to change your thinking about “aging” to combat all the pressure. Even if a 50 year old (as I am ) gets work done to appear younger, they can’t get a face lift on their birth certificate! So I embrace aging enthusiastically! What mainstream media and current culture try to avoid by altering,  I like to use re-wording to alter perception:

I like to think of the lines on my face not as wrinkles but laugh lines and savor all the giggles that have gotten them there!

When I look at my tummy I choose not to look negatively on the stretch marks, but positively since they are a perk of pregnancy (a sort of mommy memory). And since I had  two babies, one  9lbs and another 10 1/2 lbs you can only imagine the perks I have going!

In the morning when I awaken and my body feels stiff I say, these are not aches and pains but more of a snap, crackle, pop that sort of acts as a time machine taking me back to all the dance parties and concerts from my youth. A rhythmatoid reminiscence, not rheumatoid arthritis.

In between visits to the hairdresser I notice not grey hairs but loving locks, as each change of color on each strand represents the care and concern for a loved one. Which shows me I must have many loved ones and lots of cares and concerns for them!

Though my vision is now a bit blurry, in actual fact I think I see more clearly and focus on the things that are important!

I encourage you to look at Beauty in this new way…. BE-U-to a T.  ‘Cuz no matter how hard you try you won’t be anyone else. You are indeed beautiful just the way God made you! The more you adopt this belief the happier you will be in your own skin!

Positively pretty!

YDP