Finding Empowerment in Personal Beauty

Today many women feel inadequate in comparison to the beauty standards of today's society. The media bombards us with the idea that we are not enough as we are. We are not thin enough, our lashes aren't long enough and are hair is missing texture. It is suggested that signs of aging decrease our value as people, and must be compensated for by the newest wrinkle cream on the market.

I consider myself to be a conscious person. I reserve the right to have my own feelings, and thoughts about things. I don't allow the influence of propaganda to make me buy Tide detergent. I have, however, allowed my mind to believe that I am substandard, in comparison to other women in the world.

This idea or belief is constantly in the back of my mind, creating pain and diminishing the quality of my life. When I see an ad for makeup, or a high-fashion magazine spread, the first thought that floods my mind, is always the same; " I don’t look like that, and looking like that is what will make me desirable, and loved by others." In the back of my mind, I have a belief that, as long as other women look that way, I would never be anybody's first choice.

Don't get me wrong, I get how crazy that is. I'm writing this honestly, because I don't believe I'm alone in this type of self-violence, and self-judgment.

Comparison and self-judgment are the mechanisms of our ego mind. The ego believes that if we gauge ourselves in comparison to others, we can better keep ourselves safe. We are safe when we know exactly where we stand in the world. This forms the illusion that your precious existence pales in the comparison of a woman with higher cheekbones and longer legs.

We must realize that these standards are based in fiction and take our power back from them. We're basically keeping ourselves unhappy, to preserve an illusion of falseness and absurdity someone else has created to boost mascara sales.

The second illusion is that you must keep up with the other women of the world who have it all together. Nobody has it all together. Just because someone appears that way in a fifteen-minute interview, does not make it true.

The third illusion is that this is a world you need to find a way to fit into. This is where I invite you once again to claim your own world of experience that you can customize to fit your heart’s desires and your personal truth.

The ego actually has honorable intentions, but letting it run the show of your life will lead to more of the same unhappiness.