Need a Beauty Pick Me Up - Try A Little Kindness
Okay I know the title sounds a little out there, but bear with me for sec. This month we were asked to write about the best beauty advice we have received. While I have received a fair amount of advice over the years, I couldn't think of any that would be earth shattering or new to Shine readers. I thought of me as a child watching my mother put on her makeup. What advice did she give about beauty? What stuck with me wasn't the half open mouth to put on mascara trick. It was the fact that while Mom could be completely engrossed in her beauty routine if any of her children called out for her help she would drop the lipstick and go. That is the person she is, kind and giving and that is what makes her beautiful.
Flash forward a few years (ahem), some mornings I am so rushed that I skip putting on makeup altogether. Lately it seems like every morning. I recently started a new job and am a little crazed in the mornings trying to get out of the house. While I am excited about going to work my beauty routine has slipped. I find it hard to share with the community my beauty secrets when I really have been slacking in that department. The neglect of my beauty routine has left me feeling less than glam some mornings and got me thinking about what makes someone truly beautiful. Sure I feel beautiful and glamorous when I get all dolled up and head out the door, but it often feels disingenuous. The deep down from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, inside out, beauty has proved evasive. I started to think of the people that I would consider beautiful and they are all people who while they do clean up well, are genuinely good, kind people. In fact there are quite a few famous beauties who while genetically gifted are personally revolting because of the kind of person they are.
In this modern age of Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere where an entire digital universe can revolve around you, it is very easy to be me-centric. I don't have either Facebook or Twitter, but the responsibilities of my jobs and my home are often demanding my time and attention. It is in those chaotic moments where I need to stop thinking about me and think of someone else for a change. By focusing my energy on making someone else feel good my problems seem less important. I try to think of a joke that will make a co-worker smile and I love giving small unexpected gifts to a loved one just because. Sending a card to a friend to say I was thinking of them or making a handmade thank you card to show my gratitude.
Kindness doesn't have to be doing something special or out of the ordinary, I try to think of how I conduct myself in my day to day life. Was I nasty to the guy at the checkout because I forgot my coupon and he couldn't help me or did I cut in front of the woman with the baby carriage because I didn't want to miss my train? These are just random examples, but I like to think of how I can make small adjustments to my life and then add on from there. Okay so maybe I don't have enough time to volunteer at the senior center three days a week, but I could call my cousin or uncle or any relative I rarely talk to. By reaching out to others and treating them with kindness and respect I reaffirm what makes me human. It's those moments where I am giving to others without thinking of myself that I feel truly beautiful, no mascara needed.
Okay share time, what do you do when you are feeling down in the beauty dumps? What things do you do to make a loved one or friend feel special?
Image: 1988 in Ethiopia, UNICEF Ambassdor Audrey Hepburn carries a girl courtesy of the UNICEF website.