It is Sunday and the weekend is winding down. It is a great time to take a moment and recognize the beauty that lies within us all. It is the sum of our life's experiences that makes us beautiful, and remembering that is the first, and often the most difficult part, of really loving ourselves for who we are not what we look like to the outside world. The truth is, the more comfortable we are with ourselves, the more beautiful we are to the world...beauty shines through us.
I, know first hand how hard it is to really think of ourselves as beautiful. I started in a very dark place just five years ago. Despite my own accomplishments, large and small, I didn't find myself beautiful simply because I didn't fit the conventions of beauty. Since I began the Beautiful Women Project, I have come into contact with thousands of women like myself, struggling to find, and accept, their inner beauty. In doing so, I have come to define my own image. Don't get me wrong, I have my moments: the morning (usually a Monday just as I am getting ready to face the week) I see gray hairs popping out on the top of my head, I have become ever more reluctant to walk around the gym in figure hugging clothing, and I often catch myself staring at the age spots on my face. It is easier to get caught up in these "imperfections" rather than recognizing that all of this is just the experiences of my life that make me...me.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Beautiful Women Begin to Blog!
Beautiful Women is very simple: it is the sum of a woman's life experience that makes her beautiful. Today, we as a society, are constantly bombarded with images and ideas of what makes a woman beautiful.
Beautiful Women began on a beach in Italy. As I sat on watched women of all ages, shapes, and sizes truly enjoying themselves and unencumbered by their bodies, I wondered to myself, "What do they have that I do not yet possess?" I returned to the United States and began searching for truly beautiful women, women who truly shined. I interviewed thirty five women, ages three through ninety and wrote their stories. I then photographed them doing something that made them feel truly beautiful or spoke to the woman that they were in that moment of their life. It has been the single greatest learning experience of my life.
Beautiful Women are all around us - everyday. Take a moment and look around, there is a beautiful woman right next to you. If you are alone, take a moment to look inside yourself and you will find a beautiful person. Having trouble? Think of one thing that you have done in your life that makes you proud, makes you quietly smile when you think about it. Today, I think about the birth of my sons. I am so proud that my body carried and produced my two little boys. That is what I think makes me beautiful. Everyday, I reflect on something else that I am proud of and acknowledge that beauty.
If we all could do that - take a moment to acknowledge ourselves or someone that we care about we would all begin defining beauty as the sum of our life's experiences.
Beautiful Women began on a beach in Italy. As I sat on watched women of all ages, shapes, and sizes truly enjoying themselves and unencumbered by their bodies, I wondered to myself, "What do they have that I do not yet possess?" I returned to the United States and began searching for truly beautiful women, women who truly shined. I interviewed thirty five women, ages three through ninety and wrote their stories. I then photographed them doing something that made them feel truly beautiful or spoke to the woman that they were in that moment of their life. It has been the single greatest learning experience of my life.
Beautiful Women are all around us - everyday. Take a moment and look around, there is a beautiful woman right next to you. If you are alone, take a moment to look inside yourself and you will find a beautiful person. Having trouble? Think of one thing that you have done in your life that makes you proud, makes you quietly smile when you think about it. Today, I think about the birth of my sons. I am so proud that my body carried and produced my two little boys. That is what I think makes me beautiful. Everyday, I reflect on something else that I am proud of and acknowledge that beauty.
If we all could do that - take a moment to acknowledge ourselves or someone that we care about we would all begin defining beauty as the sum of our life's experiences.
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