Beauty

Beauty is a funny little word that can mean an array of delightful things.  What does beauty mean to you?  Is it physical, spiritual or mental?  How about a combination of all three?  Can you make yourself more beautiful with out temporary enhancements?  As I live and learn I've come to realize that beauty is a combination of all three.  I believe that if one of these areas are lacking it will inevitably affect the others.

My physical appearance is important to me...clean and well cared for teeth, over all health and fitness.  I personally don't care to dress up all the time because in my opinion, beauty should also be natural.  Don't get me wrong I can look my best appearance wise and I look forward to doing so on those occasions.  However, in my eyes beauty is more than skin deep.  As a matter of fact, it begins way beneath the epidermis, the process originates in the intellectual capacity.

Spiritual--
Loving yourself, requires developing a natural acceptance of who you are.  Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, morals etc. defining these attributes, and constantly (not necessarily all the time but definitely on a consistent basis) working to strengthen yourself by utilizing your emotions and attributes in a conscious and controlled manner.

Self esteem is also referred to as self respect/self confidence/self assurance.  Self-esteem, such an important aspect of who you are!  People say if you love yourself you would or wouldn't do certain things...however, I beg to differ.  Here's why, if someone has never taken the time to evaluate who they are from the right place their self esteem may be displaced...because it is based on all the wrong things.  Which results in either raising or lowering your self worth.  It's almost like preparing a meal without having all the right ingredients.  The end result is that it just won't taste right!  (My advice to you is to be sure that you have all the right ingredients, before you start cooking!)

Physical/Mental--
These are my favorites! Because they consists of "you!"  Gym time, healthy meals, spa days! (Love them!) pampering yourself, going shopping, dressing up, spending time at the salon, enjoying 'me time' to the fullest!  Socializing! Hobbies and talents! These are all things that make you unique and are beneficial in keeping your mind stimulated in constructive ways!

What does beauty mean to you?  Is it physical, spiritual or mental?  How about a combination of all three?  Can you make yourself more beautiful with out temporary enhancements? Can you make it an ongoing experience?  I did, through my experience with TNI.

The Future

I always wonder why people take forever to do the simplest things!  Myself included.  Sometimes I wonder why I procrastinate to do something that takes all of five minutes to complete!  I decided to change that after analyzing my life.  I have concluded that my future is right now and that there is no future in procrastination.

Way too many of us think that we have time to complete a task.  Not so.  Yet we choose to believe that we do and we live life as if we have all the time in the world.  Your future started the day you were born.  Your future is a continuation of right now.  I believe that if we had this mindset we would accomplish more.  We would truly be fear-less.  We would be less content with mediocrity and more willing to find fulfillment in our lives.  We waste so much time taking life for granted.

Life is about making decisions.  Good or bad it doesn't even matter.  Learn from it, move on, then make better decisions.  If something doesn't work...figure it out!  Try a different approach!  Don't stop until you find one that works!  Use your resources! No one has all the answers, and it may even take a while before you get it right.  Contrary to what you may believe, by allowing things to hinder you, you allow situations/circumstances etc. to control your life, you are also allowing them to control your future.

I decided that instead of using the word future elusively-- a time to come/what lies ahead, I would choose to use it definitively-- destined/intended/planned.  So instead of saying...we never know what the future will hold.  I prefer to say...the future of my life will be successful and prosperous.  We need to lay the foundation today, for the house we want to live in tomorrow.  Why settle for something ordinary, when you can accomplish something extra-ordinary?  Start by choosing your definition of the future and build from there.  I'm sure your future will reward you with a beautiful home. :)