Accepting yourself; wholeheartedly

Throughout the years, mainstream media, movies, magazines and fashion houses, bombarded us with images of the “perfect models.”  Whether it was their face, length, the way they were built or the colour of their hair; it didn’t matter.  What mattered was that false images were created, marketed, that influenced many, if not thousands, of people’s lives.  Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there; Barbie- and Ken dolls started to pop up everywhere.  Suddenly every young girl and woman, thought that that is the way you must look.  Even today, with many of the influencers and the like, young people (especially), are brainwashed into thinking that that is how he / she must look, in order to be happy.

Luckily, there is always a light at the end of every tunnel and the light has started to shine brighter and brighter.  More and more people, including young people, are seeing through the “fake ness” of celebrities and the like.  Women, especially, realize that it is the make-up and technology used, to create the “perfect photo.” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – so the saying goes.  What defines beauty is different for everyone.  What is important, is that we teach our children, from a young age, that external beauty fades.  No matter how many face lifts, creams, powders, and so forth, we use; ageing will catch up with all of us.  It is the internal beauty that lasts.  When you are beautiful on the inside, it radiates out. 

Am I promoting letting yourself go and think “take me or leave me.”  No, not at all!  You still have to look after yourself with a healthy diet, exercise routine and getting rid of stress.  What you should do, is accept the things you cannot change and change what you can.  With the advent of technology, make-up, hair colour and so on, you can quite easily change your appearance.  Changing your external appearance might lift your mood, but will it be long-lasting?  If you are not happy, internally, then no amount of make-up, hair colour, facials and the like, is going to help.

As more and more people turn back to listening to their intuition / gut feelings, people quickly “pick-up” whether you are genuine or not.  Anyone can smile or laugh, but when your eyes don’t smile, then people know something is amiss.  The eyes, after all, are the windows to your soul!  Accepting yourself is not always easy; especially when you go through your teenage-years.  Helping a child by supporting him or her with positive words, make a big difference.  When adults start to criticize or belittle children, then the damage caused is on a deep level.  Having someone to help you accept yourself, is another wonderful “tool” to use.  Journaling can also be used.  Putting our thoughts into words is a good way to express our feelings and thoughts.

One thing to remember is, that our brain is divided into a conscious- and sub-conscious mind.  The conscious mind can distinguish between right and wrong, but not the sub-conscious mind.  Whatever we think, whatever we say to ourselves, get stored in the sub-conscious mind.  It is here that you have to “delete” and “rewrite” your negative thoughts, words and beliefs, if you truly want to break free from whatever is holding you back.  The same goes for accepting ourselves wholeheartedly.  Once you find someone who can help you to “rewrite” your thoughts and feelings about yourself, then you can deeply and truly accept yourself.