What Makes A Woman Truly Beautiful

What is true beauty? What makes a woman truly beautiful?

I have exhausted my self lately on my personal quest of finding what true beauty is and what makes up a beautiful woman. I collected images of different women of all ages, races, colors and shapes... I read articles about remarkable women of our times, memoirs of ordinary women who lived extra-ordinary lives, watched movies about powerful women of my generation, captivated by the most loved and most hated women on TV and entertainment, and even consumed myself of beauty quotes that I would regularly post on my Facebook wall every now and then.... Most of the time, I found myself intoxicated with wisdom that profoundly brought clarity to me about the world and myself as a woman... 

MY PERSONAL AHA! MOMENT:

A woman's true beauty  is an experience that I invite to my life, that I feel within me, that I learn from others, that I empower my self with, that I enjoy to share, that strengthens me and everyone around me...

A TRULY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IS...

A mother who fights with all her strength beside her son who's battling leukemia.

A young mother who shines when she takes her baby to experience life's great adventures before he can even walk.  

A girl who behaves in public with grace and good manners saying 'thank-you', 'sorry',  and  'please', controls her lingo, and builds healthy relationships with her family members, friends, and colleagues.

A woman who loves her self and carries her self with confidence, whose heart-warming smiles brightens the day of every body whom she talks to, and not letting anything or anybody steal her joy.  

A single mother who listens to her daughter's pains, dreams and desires in life, who makes her feel loved, valued, important and assure her how beautiful she is.
 

Someone who lets nobody stop her from being great, for making a difference in the world, who loves what she does even if some people ridicule her passions, who inspires other women to embrace her talents and uniqueness, who brings honor to our country, who brings peace to the troubled and laughter to the lonely....

She doesn't even have to be a human... She could be a short furry four-legged beauty who would lick the tears off my face... 

I was floored when I found this quote that describes the most beautiful people...

Beauty is not something that we can buy or wear or can or can't afford to show off. It's not something that we inject on our face and body, either. So, let's not get caught up in our appearances when we look at our selves in the mirror to judge our own beauty. It's not someone else's job to tell us if we are beautiful or not. Being beautiful inside and out is a daily decision that we affirm to ourselves. 

My Real Life Debunking of Beauty Myth

 I want to personally share to you all my fabulous readers - this amazing woman, Tara Starling, whom I met at the Ignite Your Spark Women's Conference. Please watch her video and you'll know why I'm following this brave and courageous woman in changing the world, one woman's beauty manifesto at a time.

For the last couple of years, I've been drawn to Youtube watching videos of makeup and fashion tutorials, beauty product reviews, especially beauty myths and other disturbing videos about how media is distorting women's images through extreme photo shopping and altering - and why in the world girls and women alike are obsessed about these doctored images of celebrities and models. What really threw me off lately are the videos of young girls asking viewers, "Am I ugly?" or "Am I Fat?", and letting the world judge them!

I remember, when I was a young girl, I struggled, too, and I was very conscious about my legs as they are not ideally skinny, like the models I see in the magazines. And I let the world judge me and be called "fat and ugly!" I carried this insecurity about my body until now, and I even used to joke to my family and friends, "Na ang mga pata kong ito ang magtatanggol sa lahat ng mag-aapi sa inyo!" (My thighs will defend you from all bullies!) That sarcastic and comic expression somehow helped me scare away my own (inner) bullies, and I'm now more accepting of my body image, and loving my beautiful legs that my Mama gave me! I even enjoy wearing dresses now that show off my legs with pride on how strong they have become!

Few months ago, I shared this "Love-your-legs-your-mama-gave-you" wisdom to one girl one time at work, and she told me how she wants me to be around her so she will feel better about her (self) "legs"... At that time, I felt inspired that I have a compelling message to women who have body image issues. And this "Taking Back Beauty Movement" is my perfect vehicle to reach them.

Lastly, I want to share with you all this "Beauty Myth" video I shared recently in my Facebook Fan Page, so you know what's all these "Beauty Myths" that the world is talking about!