5 Ways to be More Beautiful
Are there really ways that everyone can be more beautiful? Well, that depends on your definition of beauty. If you define it as conforming to the media stereotypes of top models and celebrity icons, probably not. Those women usually have a personal chef, trainer, and a great editing team.
If you define it the way I do; That true beauty comes from within, then yes, absolutely. I think there’s so much more to beauty than external appearance, and that inner beauty can radiate outward and enhance the allure of one’s countenance and form. And I am not the only one.
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”– Roald Dahl
I love this quote from bestselling children’s author Roald Dahl. It comes from his book ‘The Twits,’ and is about how Mrs. Twit was physically attractive when she was young, but she grew uglier and uglier as she aged because of her negative thoughts and selfish ways. Her inner ugliness ate away her beauty until she was ugly all over, inside and out.
A Deeper Kind of Beautiful
I am sure we all know people who do not conform to society’s stereotypical ideal of beauty but captivate and charm all who meet them, nonetheless. Maybe they have bucketloads of charisma and confidence, perhaps they are great at listening and showing an interest in others, or they may be incredibly kind and generous. Whatever characteristics are at the forefront, one thing they have in common is that they are a deeper kind of beautiful.
This deeper beauty is so much more important to cultivate because, unlike our looks, it doesn’t fade with time. Now I don’t mean that inner and outer beauty are mutually exclusive; of course, you can be attractive and radiate deeper beauty. You don’t have to choose one or the other. Also, I am not saying that thinking about your appearance doesn’t have its place. It’s human nature to feel more confident when we are happy about the way we look, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that.
I mean to convey the fact that solely fixating on the media’s unrealistic standards of beauty and not realizing and developing your inner grace shouldn’t be the primary focus. After all, time and gravity take their toll on all of us; we will all age and shrivel and sag. But if we have spent our time wisely, appreciating and developing our true beauty, it really won’t matter.
With that in mind, let’s explore some ways to be more beautiful on the inside, as well as the outside but in a healthy way.
5 Ways to Be More Beautiful
1: Be Healthy
The secret to radiant outer and inner beauty is good health. Most beauty products and treatments work by making us look healthier. Think teeth whitening, skin smoothing, hair volumizing, eye brightening, etc. Someone who looks healthy is more attractive to us on a subconscious level. It’s most probably to do with our caveman instincts of survival and producing healthy kids. The same goes for weight. Despite the fashion industry promoting size zero models, generally, if we see someone who is grossly underweight or overweight, we believe them to be less healthy and, therefore, less attractive.
So, to be more beautiful and attractive, you need to work on your actual health, rather than spending money on things that make you appear healthier. The great thing is, working on your health supports your inner beauty as well, because if you feel healthy, rested, and energetic, you naturally make better decisions and are more able to help others. Good physical health also boosts your mental wellbeing, enabling you to feel calmer and more in control of your emotions and life. All these things help your inner beauty shine.
The Four Pillars of Health
Nutrition is the first of the four pillars of optimum health. Ensure you eat a balanced diet, including plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables for maximum nutritional intake. With soil so depleted and the range of different foods we consume so limited, most people would benefit from adding a high-quality supplement into their wellness routine. Staying hydrated is also essential for optimum health.
Exercise is the second pillar of optimum health. The human body was designed to move. Over the years, we have become so sedentary it is hazardous to our health. Exercise is critical for physical and mental wellbeing. If you are a healthy person with no limitations, you should aim for 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5-6 times a week.
Sleep is the third pillar of optimum health. Again, our modern lifestyles have infringed on this basic human necessity. With the rise of technology, we sleep less than ever before. Sleep deprivation affects everything, from normal physiological function to mental health. Most people need between 7-8 hours of good-quality sleep per night.
Stress reduction is the fourth pillar of optimum health. With the demands of modern life, most of us have a constant low-level of stress hormones in our system. These hormones cause inflammation, which is the pre-cursor to chronic diseases and mental health issues. They say stress is a killer, and they’re right. Do whatever it takes to reduce stress as much as possible. We’ll be exploring self-care next.
2: Be a Self-Care Queen
Following on from being healthy, self-care is a vital strategy when learning how to be more beautiful. Self-care means developing the self-awareness to know what you need, and the self-discipline to do it. Yes, self-care takes discipline. With work, social engagements, side projects, families, etc., it’s easy to let ourselves fall down the list of priorities, especially if you are a mother.
But it is critical to set boundaries around your self-care time because if you don’t make it happen, nobody will. It’s not selfish to prioritize self-care; if you are stressed, overwhelmed, and burnt-out, your productivity at work and your ability to care for others will plummet. Plus, your outer and inner beauty will suffer.
Schedule self-care time into your week. Since self-care is personal to each of us, it’s important to choose things that make you feel joyful, uplifted, and recharged. Journaling is a great tool to help you gain self-awareness, so you might like to consider taking up this activity if you don’t already journal.
Other popular self-care activities include meditation, yoga, personal and spiritual development, time to do nothing to rest and unwind, reading, art, crafting, walking, candlelit baths, cooking or baking, massage, and other treatments. Give yourself permission to spend time on your hobbies and the things that make you feel positive and relaxed.
3: Be Confident
Something that drastically affects our inner and outer beauty is confidence. One of the fastest ways to be more beautiful is to do little things that make you feel more confident. That might mean choosing to wear a specific outfit that flatters your figure and reflects your personality or doing your hair and makeup so you feel a million dollars.
Practicing exquisite self-care will increase your confidence because when you focus on yourself, you will start to respect and love yourself more. Love and respect for yourself will naturally lead to increased confidence levels as you hold yourself in higher regard, compare yourself to others less frequently, and recognize your value.
4: Be Compassionate
Kindness, empathy, and compassion are basic ingredients of deep inner beauty. You will instantly be more beautiful to others if you demonstrate these qualities. The rise of social media has dulled our sense of compassion. We see more campaigns about all the suffering and struggle in the world than ever before, and because of this we automatically dial down our compassion because if we didn’t, we’d be feeling sad all the time. We are also bombarded with countless adverts expertly designed to tug on our conscience or elicit another emotional reaction, and we close ourselves off to a certain extent, again, as a protection mechanism. This self-preservation reaction leaves us feeling numb and emotionally unaware.
While this does help us to get through the day without being an emotional mess, opening our hearts to the struggles of others is essential for our wellbeing. The heart chakra is the center of the energy system. It is where the lower, physical space meets the higher, spiritual realm. If we keep the heart center closed, we prevent these two sides from uniting, and we can become very guarded and even selfish. A closed heart chakra also reduces our ability to give and receive love.
Work on opening your heart chakra and developing compassion for others. Practice imagining what it would be like to be in another person’s position. This strengthens your sense of empathy. You will find your relationships improve because people will feel how well you can relate to their experience, and they will appreciate that.
Compassion toward yourself is also crucial if you want to be more beautiful. Ceasing negative self-talk links back to developing your confidence and sense of self-esteem. Constantly berating yourself or telling yourself that you don’t look good is only going to make you feel more negative in general, which will infuse into the rest of your life, including how you interact with others. Have compassion for yourself, for where you’re at right now, and turn negative thoughts into positive statements. This may feel difficult at first, but it’s worth persisting.
5: Be Generous
Being able to give to others is a blessing. Generosity isn’t just about money though, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you do not have enough money to share, you cannot be generous. We all have many resources that we can gift to others to help them in some way. The most obvious and most precious of these is time with full attention. Even when we spend time with people, sometimes we are so preoccupied with other stuff that’s going on in our lives we do not focus properly on the other person.
‘The best gift you can give to another is your presence.”– Unknown
Other resources you can share are your knowledge, skill, and expertise. We have all led different lives and gathered a unique set of skills and knowledge. Share these generously so that other people can benefit from what you have learned.
The point above regarding compassion ties into generosity. Compassion is recognizing the struggle of others, and generosity is doing something about it. Offering your support to a stressed colleague, checking in with a friend who is going through a difficult situation, running errands for an elderly neighbor, and helping those less fortunate than yourself are all ways you can demonstrate your compassion and be more beautiful.
You can even make this into a practice – why not commit to doing a random act of kindness every day for a month? Here are some ideas to get you thinking:
• Print out inspirational quotes and hand them out to everyone you meet
• Write an encouraging comment on someone’s blog
• Write a review for a book by a lesser-known author you’ve read and enjoyed
• Recommend a small business from whom you have recently enjoyed good service
• Write (not type) a letter to someone who lives far away from you
• Bake someone a cake for no reason
• Donate old towels and bedding to a homeless shelter
These ideas were inspired by the official Random Acts of Kindness website, where their mission is to ‘make kindness the norm.’ Head over to their inspirational site for more information and fun ideas.
Conclusion
There’s more to beauty than aesthetic appeal, and beauty doesn’t have to be merely skin-deep. While looking your best is important in making you feel confident, it isn’t the only type of beauty you should cultivate. Be more beautiful by developing generosity, compassion, and confidence, along with vibrant health and sublime self-care.
We hope you have enjoyed this article sharing five ways to be more beautiful, and it helps you awaken the Goddess within. As always, we are here to support you, so drop any questions in the box below, and join us in our Sacred Circle forum where you can connect with fellow Goddesses and the Femigod team of wellness experts.
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