Sunday, November 15, 2009

What were you conditioned to believe? Eliminating the Distortion of Perception...





Just as the new bud





transforms into a beautiful flower,










so too, does the morning awaken into a beautiful new day.




How do you define "beautiful"?  What specifically is a "beautiful" flower or a "beautiful" new day?  How do we recognize beauty?




Isn't it true, we are conditioned to believe that a beautiful flower looks something like this.....




or possibly like these.....







Or, maybe..................








BUT, what is it that makes it so beautiful?  From where did this requirement come?

It's perception from what we've been conditioned to believe. 

Sometimes perception comes in the form of deception.

So where is the rule that demands beauty look like that?




Isn't it possible, just maybe, that beauty could look like this....................... ?




















or like this................................?



















or, even this ?

This is my Great-Grandma (and me).  She lived into her late 90's.  I’ve never seen a photo of her when she was younger, but I’m sure she was beautiful, because I can see her beauty even in this picture.

Look into the eyes of everyone you see. The eyes are the window to the soul. You will discover true beauty in everyone.




If you remove the distorted automatic training from your mind, and learn to view everything in a new and different light.......... you will discover that beauty appears in many different forms........ beauty is in everything. 


Just as age is just a number, beauty is simply a word.  However, when you add love and gratitude to your thinking, the word "beauty" takes on a whole new meaning.


It's possible to look at this............











and know that it came from this......





It's all about whatever we have been conditioned to believe.  And, it is possible to transform our perception into seeing beauty in new and exciting visions, and open up a whole new world.






Think of the new bud as a newborn baby. 











Watch as the bud gradually grows into a mature flower.






















Just as the flower grows, the newborn baby grows into a beautiful young girl or a handsome young boy.

 


Then, in what seems like a blink of an eye, he/she suddenly realizes that the inevitability of "age" has caught up with them ...

....................with you
................... with me
....................with each of us. 



We cannot escape it.  Oh, some people will attempt to halt or slow down the process.  But, the reality is that everyone who lives long enough will age.  The youthful external beauty diminshes and soon we are looking at a vision in the mirror that reminds us of our mother or father, or grandmother or grandfather. 




Instead of perceiving age as something ugly, why not simply embrace the process and be grateful for whatever your beauty looks like.



Each of us is beautiful, regardless of our outward appearance or our age. 



Bodies that we've been conditioned to believe are unattractive, are actually quite beautiful - even the flab, the pouches, the limps, the aches and pains, the wrinkles, the sags, discoloration of the skin, thinning hair, missing teeth, fading eyesight --- all of it IS beauty.


In less than one month I'll be celebrating my 62nd birthday.  Yes, I said "celebrating".  Life is a beauty to celebrate, not only on our birthdays, but every day.

If we are blessed enough to still be alive with wrinkles, sags, flab and all that other stuff, then it should be embraced and appreciated. 
(It sure beats the alternative!)




I am GRATEFUL for my life and for it's beauty.  I've learned to see all challenges as beauty to be embraced and appreciated.




Next time you look in the mirror, instead of focusing on your flaws (hey, we all have 'em - yep, even the young) - - - take a really good look at the beauty of YOU.


Be grateful for your beauty, in whatever form it is.


Appreciate, embrace and love the beauty of YOU




P.S. In the past I would removed aging flowers from the plant.  I was conditioned to believe that the aging flowers zapped the new buds of their energy.  But, I've learned that the aging shriveling flowers add character and a beauty of their own to the garden --- just as aging people enhance the lives of the young.