The sky this evening before moon rise.
Because I'm very tired tonight I'm going to post something that Robert Holden wrote recently that has stayed with me all day as I've been pottering around at home....decluttering the cupboard on the landing full of Christmas decorations and stuff for wrapping presents...and making an all-veggies-in-the-fridge soup....and trying to sort out my printer....and buying train tickets online.... and reading on the sofa.....and not going out in the freezing rain.
Reminding myself "I'm beautiful and everybody loves me."
It did surprise me the thing about only 4 percent of women who think they are beautiful ....
How to Feel Beautiful by Robert Holden
One sunny day, when my daughter was four years old, I found her lying on the grass in our garden gazing up at the bright blue sky. She had a big smile on her face.
“Hi sweetheart,” I said.
“Hi dad,” said Bo.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m feeling beautiful,” she replied.
“Wow, that sounds fun!”
“It is!” she said, “I love feeling beautiful and I try to feel it as much as I can.”
For four years I was the coach to the leadership team for Dove & the Real Beauty Campaign. Together with my team at Success Intelligence, I coached the President of Dove, ran workshops for the Global Leadership Team, hosted three annual Dove conferences, and travelled the world presenting seminars to the Dove community. The goal was simple: to help more women and girls feel beautiful everyday.
Dove’s research on The Truth About Beauty shows that although we have more beauty products on the planet than ever before, we are feeling less and less beautiful. Only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful. It’s a similar story for men too. In fact, recent research revealed that men privately worry more about their physical than women do.
I believe it is our birthright to feel beautiful. As children, feeling beautiful is natural. Just ask my daughter Bo! Something happens! As we grow up, our natural beauty is forgotten and obscured. And yet, our secret beauty (a term coined by the mystic Thomas Merton) remains, waiting to be recognized. How do we recognize our beauty?
The Beautiful Prayer
My favourite-ever prayer is by the Benedictine nun, Macrina Wiederkehr. I’ve written about this prayer in two of my books Loveability and Happiness NOW! I’ve prescribed it to hundreds and thousands of my people who’ve come to my workshops. It goes like this:
“Hi sweetheart,” I said.
“Hi dad,” said Bo.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m feeling beautiful,” she replied.
“Wow, that sounds fun!”
“It is!” she said, “I love feeling beautiful and I try to feel it as much as I can.”
For four years I was the coach to the leadership team for Dove & the Real Beauty Campaign. Together with my team at Success Intelligence, I coached the President of Dove, ran workshops for the Global Leadership Team, hosted three annual Dove conferences, and travelled the world presenting seminars to the Dove community. The goal was simple: to help more women and girls feel beautiful everyday.
Dove’s research on The Truth About Beauty shows that although we have more beauty products on the planet than ever before, we are feeling less and less beautiful. Only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful. It’s a similar story for men too. In fact, recent research revealed that men privately worry more about their physical than women do.
I believe it is our birthright to feel beautiful. As children, feeling beautiful is natural. Just ask my daughter Bo! Something happens! As we grow up, our natural beauty is forgotten and obscured. And yet, our secret beauty (a term coined by the mystic Thomas Merton) remains, waiting to be recognized. How do we recognize our beauty?
The Beautiful Prayer
My favourite-ever prayer is by the Benedictine nun, Macrina Wiederkehr. I’ve written about this prayer in two of my books Loveability and Happiness NOW! I’ve prescribed it to hundreds and thousands of my people who’ve come to my workshops. It goes like this:
| O God, help me to believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is! Amen. |
The Beautiful Meditation
Beauty is not something to create; it is revealed to us when we stop judging. This beautiful Navajo Meditation (below) is an invitation to see beauty everywhere. How do we do this? In each moment, you are either judging or loving. When you judge, you see your judgments. When you love, you see beauty. Love is a training in vision, and the more you practice seeing life through the eyes of love, the more you will see beauty everywhere. | In beauty I walk With beauty before me I walk With beauty behind me I walk With beauty above me I walk With beauty around me I walk I walk in beauty. |
The Super Blue, but not Red, moon captured tonight from my front garden in Exeter before the clouds swallowed her up.
I seem to have missed this post and have only just read it. Love it!
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