CHAPTER FRIDAY | BECAUSE TODAY IS THE DAY

Advertorial Personal 13 October 2016

We’re talking beauty from the inside and out

Let’s talk beauty! Is beauty about confidence, about feeling comfortable in your own skin, about loving yourself, about showing the outside world what you feel like on the inside? Whether we’re talking about beauty from the inside, or out, at Chapter Friday we think it’s about being proud of who you are and working with what you have.

Last week, I attended an interesting event with Estée Lauder (who, herself was an incredibly inspiring beauty pioneer) to launch a new skincare product - the Global Supreme+ Anti Aging Cell Power Creme - and there were talks by women who turned their lives around 180 degrees to unlock some sense of inner power. You saw a bit of it in my recent vlog!

It got us talking about what beauty means and at Chapter Friday HQ, I posed the question: How do you relate to the concept of beauty and what makes you feel beautiful from the inside and outside?

Yara: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” - Roald Dahl

Attraction, or whether I find someone beautiful, usually has to with the vibe someone gives off. As you might know, I’m a big fan of positive vibes and I am usually drawn to people that spread those, like sunbeams. For me, real beauty is about coming out stronger and happier at the end of a struggle. And it’s about knowing that someone else’s beauty isn’t a threat. So many things are beautiful, and it’s simply up to us to see that.

Emma: “She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul. She is beautiful.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

I feel so attracted to this quote about beauty by Scott Fitzgerald (who else..) I feel pretty on moments I’m not thinking about the way I look or act. When I’m talking about passion, or when I’m walking through the city on a sunny day. Just me and my camera, capturing everything that caught my eye. Sometimes I’ll grab a coffee and sit on a bench in the city, and I just sit and watch. I really like to observe people (ok that might sounds kinda creepy) but really, when I take time to process all the great and fewer things that I see around me and it helps me to see things trough another perspective. At the end, I always feel satisfied and that’s the moment I think, hey, the way I think is ok, the way I look is ok and the way I feel is good.

Alice: “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” ― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

This way of describing real inner beauty makes my heart happy. I strongly believe life experiences (a little suffering included) gives depth to life. I did had my struggles along the way, but as a true (and realistic) optimist, I tackled them and I learned to love my imperfections. Both outside and in. They make me different from everybody else. In retrospect: having imperfections makes me similar to everybody else.

I feel beautiful from the inside and out when I’m in balance (I know, this sounds sooo floaty). Because I tend to notice none of the beauty around me when I’m buried under a pile of tasks. Oh, and I do look more beautiful in relax-mode, too!

When do you feel beautiful from the inside and outside? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comments below!