'You Are Beautiful. Now Say It'

Welcome to You...

Undoubtedly, we become what we enVISION.

--Claude M. Bristol

YOU are beautiful.

Right now.

Today.

Just as YOU are, just the way YOU look as you read those three words:

YOU. Are. Beautiful.

Say it slowly aloud, as if the phrase were a foreign language, for it probably is.

YOU are beautiful.

Now say it in the first person singular.

I am beautiful.

Do you know that?

If so, remind yourself of this glorious fact every day.

If not, it is time to become beautiful in your own eyes.

This will require a makeover of sorts, but not the kind you think.

Learning to love the way you look has nothing to do with starting a diet or reshaping your eyebrows.

Accepting and embracing your authentic beauty means seeing yourself from the inside out.

I love me,

I love me not-

-I love me.
Beauty may only be skin deep, but there is nothing superficial about the complicated relationship that a woman has with her appearance

. How you see yourself and how you think other people see you

—your body image—

is deeply connected to how you feel about yourself.
The effects of a negative body image can be devastating.

If you don't like the way you look, you probably don't like the woman you are.

And those feelings of worthlessness, self-consciousness, and inadequacy will insinuate their way into nearly every area of your life—into your friendships, your career, your romances, and, most importantly, your relationship with yourself.
A positive body image is equally powerful.

It is not an instant solution to all of life's problems,

but a starting point, a spark that can set off a fabulous chain reaction.

Loving how you look when you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror or store window paves the path of self-love, and with that acceptance comes self-esteem, confidence, and authentic beauty, a radiance that glows from within, beauty that is more than skin deep.