Recovery Quotes: Beauty

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

Just because you are blind, and unable to see my beauty doesn't mean it does not exist.

Margaret Cho

Beauty - in projection and perceiving - is 99.9% attitude.

Grey Livingston

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The fact is, there really is no such thing as 'normal' - everybody's different, and that is the essence of their beauty

Kevin Aucoin

Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It's about knowing and accepting who you are.

Ellen DeGeneres

Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful.

Justina Chen

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.

David Hume

There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.

Steve Maraboli

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. 

Leo Tolstoy

There is no definition of beauty, but when you can see someone's spirit coming through, something unexplainable, that's beautiful to me.

Liv Tyler

People are more than just the way they look.

Madeleine L'Engle

Taking joy in living is a woman's best cosmetic.

Rosalind Russell

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you look closely at a tree you'll notice it's knots and dead branches, just like our bodies. What we learn is that beauty and imperfection go together wonderfully.

Matthew Fox

I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. And it has nothing to do with what I look like really, it is just that I gave myself the power to say that I am beautiful, and if I could do that, maybe there is hope for them too. And the great divide between the beautiful and the ugly will cease to be, because we are all what we choose.

Margaret Cho

You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable.

Steve Maraboli

To the people who love you, you are beautiful already. This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings but because they so clearly see your soul. Your shortcomings then dim by comparison. The people who care about you are willing to let you be imperfect and beautiful, too.

Victoria Moran

There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.

Edgar Allan Poe

You don't have to be perfect to be pretty

Carson Kressley

Beauty comes in all sizes, not just size 5. 

Roseanne

The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.

 Kahlil Gibran

You are beautiful. Know this. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply lying. You are beautiful.

Steve Maraboli

Beauty is the illumination of your soul.

John O'Donohue

Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.

Garrison Keillor

Glamour is a shooting star, it catches your eye, but fades away; beauty is the sun always brilliant day after day. 

Mike Dolan

Get Off The Scale!

You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable. Day after day, countless people across the globe get on a scale in search of validation of beauty and social acceptance.

Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life.

It’s true; the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!

Steve Maraboli

The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.

P.C. Cast

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.

Khalil Gibran

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.

Conrad Hall

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

Maya Angelou

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.

Audrey Hepburn

As if you were on fire from within.

The moon lives in the lining of your skin.

Pablo Neruda

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.

Sophia Loren

By choosing healthy over skinny you are choosing self-love over self-judgment. You are beautiful!

Steve Maraboli,

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Marcus Aurelius

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

Rabindranath Tagore

What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.

Scott Westerfeld

I think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period. Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness.

Drew Barrymore

The really magical things are the ones that happen right in front of you. A lot of the time you keep looking for beauty, but it is already there. And if you look with a bit more intention, you see it.

Vik Muniz

Beauty... when you look into a woman's eyes and see what is in her heart. 

Nate Dircks

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are the eternity and you are the mirror.

Kahlil Gibran

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.

Ninon de L'Enclos

I don't like standard beauty - there is no beauty without strangeness.

Karl Lagerfeld

See also: Self-Defining Personal Beauty

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picsourcehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/samlavi/3859006459/

Self-Defining Personal Beauty

Just because you are blind and unable to see my beauty doesn't mean it doesn't exist. 

I love this quote by Margaret Cho. "My beauty," she says. How potent a statement that is. She's not comparing herself to anyone else or condemning herself for not meeting the beauty standards so often set by society and so deeply ingrained in our culture. She is claiming her uniqueness, her personal beauty despite another's possible inability to see it for themselves. That's powerful!

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

We, all too often, fall into the trap of disliking ourselves simply because we don't look like the images we see everyday, an altered beauty that is impossible to achieve. Photoshopped thinness, erased blemishes and imperfections, plumped and distorted body parts have become the norm. We rely on these images and the opinions of others to define us, so much so that we have blinded ourselves to the beauty we posses... our personal, unique beauty.

If you look closely at a tree you'll notice it's knots and dead branches, just like our bodies. What we learn is that beauty and imperfection go together wonderfully.

Matthew Fox

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.

Conrad Hall

How much time have you wasted by not recognizing your own beauty? How many things have you avoided because of how you perceive yourself? How much more are you willing to miss out on?

Beauty is not about how we look. Beauty is so much more. It's a glorious compilation of all the things that makes us who we are. It is self-defined. Self-defined. That makes it the responsibility of each of us to recognize it, nurture it, and proclaim it as our own no matter what anyone else thinks. 

It's time to reevaluate, redefine, and reaffirm our own personal beauty. It is time to refuse to let the blindness of others to affect our own sight. It is time to confidently present ourselves to the world with self-acceptance, self-love, and self-respect. That is positively mesmerizing. That is... beautiful!

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.

Sophia Loren

There is no definition of beauty, but when you can see someone's spirit coming through, something unexplainable, that's beautiful to me.

Liv Tyler

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Marcus Aurelius

picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/starsalive/4012182601/

Body Image Tests: How Is Your Body Image?

Wikipedia: Body image is a term which may refer to our perceptions of our own physical appearance or our internal sense of having a body which is constructed by the brain. Essentially a person's body image is how they perceive their exterior to look, and in many cases this can be dramatically different to how they actually appear to others ... Negative feelings towards a person's body can in some cases lead to mental disorders such as depression or eating disorders, though there can be a variety of different reasons why these disorders can occur. Within the media industry there have recently been popular debates focusing on how size zero models can negatively influence young people into feeling insecure about their own body image.
Read in full here.How is your body image? Take this test and see how you score:
Net Doctor's Body Image Test

BODY IMAGE: Are you imagining the wrong body?

Article by Nancy Clark, MS, RD:

In general, women seem more dissatisfied with their appearance than men. Women most commonly complain about their thighs, abdomen, breast, and buttocks while men are dissatisfied with their abdomen, upper body, and balding hair. Sometimes, the problem is imaginary, such as the runner who complains about her fat thighs, or the bikini wearer whose stomach is not absolutely flat. Sometimes, the problem is real and ranges from a mild complaint about cellulite to a major preoccupation with "thunder thighs" that results in relentless dieting and exercise akin to punishment.

More likely than not, you have at least one body part that bothers you. The following body image test may uncover the extent of your concerns:

1. List five body parts in order of dissatisfaction and write exactly what you don't like about their appearance. For example:
• Thighs too fat
• Breasts too small
• Teeth crooked
• Facial skin wrinkled
• Stomach protrudes
2. Write out how you normally describe these parts when you are looking in the mirror (i.e., disgusting flabby thighs) and notice if your body talk is negative and self-critical, or objective and neutral.
3. To what extent do you feel embarrassed or self-conscious about your appearance around others? Do you imagine others are checking you out and thinking something negative about you because of your appearance? Do you avoid wearing a bathing suit at beaches and swimming pools?
4. Note the ways you feel ashamed of your body part and have tried to change or improve its appearance (i.e., liposuction, baggy "cover-up" clothes, rigorous exercise). Have you dieted in an unhealthy way? Smoked cigarettes to control weight? Spent hours at the gym in the name of vanity, not health improvement?
5. Think about how you feel about your appearance. Do any of these emotions come to mind:
• Dissatisfied
• Insecure
• Distressed
• Obsessed
• Embarrassed
6. Is your appearance too far up on the list of factors that define who you are? Do you consider yourself to be “fat” as opposed to intelligent, caring, a good worker, loving mother, or reliable friend?
7. Take a deep breath and relax. Appearance is only skin deep. Your real worth is the love, caring, and concern you have to offer to your family, friends, and peers. No one is going to comment on the imperfections of your body at your funeral. However, people will remember you for the beauty of your life. Practice loving yourself from the inside out, rather than judging yourself from the outside in.

Body Image and Eating Disorders

Even active, fit people – those who religiously workout at the health club or run in the wee hours of the morning – are not immune from the epidemic of body dissatisfaction. Despite their fitness, many perceive themselves as having unacceptable bodies. Some go on to develop unhealthy eating patterns and eating disorders out of desperation.

According to Dr. James Rosen, body image researcher and psychology professor at the University of Vermont in Burlington, women who develop eating disorders tend to hate their bodies. In fact, the best predictor of who will develop an eating disorder relates to who struggles most with body image. This easily includes women fighting the “middle age spread”, young dancers experiencing body changes at the time of puberty, runners feeling pressure to be thinner, and group exercise leaders who think every student scrutinizes her every bulge.

How to find peace with your body

If you are dissatisfied with your body, you might think the solution is to lose weight, pump iron, or do thousands of sit-ups. Unlikely. This "outside" approach to correcting body dissatisfaction tends to be inadequate. The better approach is to learn to love the body you have. After all, so much of what you look like (your height, musculature, and some of your weight) is under genetic influence. Yes, you can slightly redesign the house Mother Nature gave you, but you can't totally remodel it ... at least not without paying a high price.

Weight issues are often self-esteem issues. Concern about what you look like is really a mask for how you feel about yourself, your self-esteem. Given about twenty-five percent of self-esteem is tied-up in how you look, you can't feel good about yourself unless you like your body and feel confident with your appearance.

Ideally, what you look like on the outside should have little to do with how you feel on the inside. But, in reality, the thinking goes like this:

1. I have a defect that makes me different than others.
2. Other people notice this difference.
3. My looks affect how these people see me ... repulsive, ugly.
4. I'm bad, unlovable, and inadequate.

If you are struggling with your body image, Dr. Rosen suggests you identify when you first got the message that something is wrong with your body.

Perhaps it was:

• a parent who way-back-when lovingly remarked, "You look good, honey, but if only you'd lose a few pounds, you might get a better job...",
• the siblings who teased you about your "thunder thighs", or
• the relative who molested you. (Sexual abuse is a common cause of body-hate).

Next, you need to take steps to be at peace with your body and to like yourself.

This includes:

• Renaming your disliked body part (i.e., "round stomach" is a more loving name than "ugly jelly belly"),
• Identifying the parts of your body that you do like and giving yourself credit for those with positive body talk. (My muscular legs help me enjoy bike rides with my children.)

Don't dwell on the negative, but instead love all the good things your body does for you. It bears children; lets you do meaningful work that can make a difference in the world; and lets you have fun. How could you enjoy life without your body?

A Resolution

The following contract is taken from the National Eating Disorders Association’s Declaration of Independence from Weight Obsessions.

I, the undersigned, do hereby declare that from this day forward I will choose to live my life by the following tenets. In doing so, I declare myself free and independent from the pressures and constraints of the weight-obsessed world.

• I will accept my body in its natural shape and size.
• I will celebrate all that my body can do for me each day.
• I will treat my body with respect, give it rest, fuel it with a variety of foods, exercise it moderately, and listen to what it needs.
• I will choose to resist our society’s pressures to judge myself and other people on physical characteristics like body weight, shape, or size. I will respect people based on the depth of their character and the impact of their accomplishments.
• I will refuse to deny my body of valuable nutrients by dieting or using weight loss products.
• I will avoid categorizing foods as “good” or “bad”. I will not associate guilt or shame with eating certain foods. Instead, I will nourish my body with a balance of foods, listening and responding to what it needs.
• I will not use food to mask my emotional needs.
• I will not avoid participating in activities that I enjoy (e.g., swimming, dancing, enjoying a meal) simply because I am self-conscious about the way my body looks. I will recognize that I have the right to enjoy any activities regardless of my body shape or size.
• I will believe that my self-esteem and identity come from within.

Signature:

Date:

More tests:

Psychology Today

Healthy Place.com

Sources: http://womenshealth.gov/editor/archive/jan05/jan05.htm http://www2.netdoctor.co.uk/testyourself/facts/body_image.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_image
pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmorodo/6778404654/