Are You Beautiful? How To Be More Beautiful
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BE MORE BEAUTIFUL
What is a beautiful body? How can we become more beautiful?
In this post, I’m going to be sharing what a beautiful body really is – and how you can achieve your most beautiful body.
This post is actually an extract from my book (page 109), but I really wanted to share the next few paragraphs here on the blog today.
Every women wants to feel beautiful (myself included), it’s just the way we’re wired. We all ask the question “Am I beautiful enough?” from time to time, and we have all taken measures to look or feel more beautiful (diet, exercise, makeup, haircare, clothing, etc.) – which there is nothing wrong with!
But here’s what you need to know, to become your most beautiful.
WHAT IS A BEAUTIFUL BODY?
A beautiful body is a body that is looked after, nourished and taken care of. A beautiful body is not one particular look or one particular image. It is a body that is cared for and loved.
When we learn to care for our bodies and look after them, then something magical starts to happen – our bodies start to look more beautiful than they ever have before.
Have you ever heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well this statement is true – we are what we eat. If I eat McDonalds every day with Coke, chocolate milkshakes, McFlurries and fries, then my body basically becomes these things – and it sadly becomes weak because these foods offer empty calories (meaning that they offer no nutrients).
But if I eat fresh vegetables and fruit every day with whole grains, eggs, lean cuts of meat, nuts and seeds, then my body becomes these things – and it becomes strong. When I eat these nourishing foods then my body becomes healthy on the inside and it starts to glow on the outside – like magic.
However, if I stop eating natural, whole foods and go back to eating processed, refined, unhealthy foods then my body will no longer be as strong and healthy on the inside – and soon that beautiful outside glow might start to fade away.
Being our most beautiful selves is about working with what we have been given and accentuating our most gorgeous features (and not getting hung up about parts of our bodies that we don’t like). We all have body insecurities – even celebrities like Jessica Alba, Cameron Diaz, J-Lo, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea and Beyonce have body parts that they don’t like.
THE REAL TRUTH
It seems shocking right? To me (and probably to you) they look perfect! But go and read their books, or listen to their interviews and you will see that even these gorgeous superstars have some body issues too (like most people). They have also worked hard for and keep working hard to maintain their beautiful bodies by eating the right foods and by exercising regularly.
What I find inspiring about all of these women though is that they have learned to work with what they have been given. J-Lo has a big booty, but she has learned to work with it and is now famous for it! Beyonce also has a big booty and apparently “big thighs”, but she works it! Iggy Azalea has a very big booty for her size but she makes the most of what she’s got and now men and women all over the world LOVE her body – how inspiring!
Kim Kardashian has shared her story about how she developed curves at a very young age, and how she longed to be skinny like all of her friends. She has said that when she was younger she would sit and cry about the shape of her body because she disliked it so much, but overtime she learned to take care of it and work with it. Kim works very hard to maintain her gorgeous body and to keep her curves toned – she works out and she remains mindful of what she eats every single day.
Cameron Diaz has stated in her book (The Body Book) that she has always wanted to be curvier, but she just doesn’t have lots of curves. However, instead of getting all sad about it she chooses to LOVE her body and has made the most of it – the result is that she has achieved her most beautiful body and now has one of the best bodies in Hollywood.
Different is Beautiful
Do you see what I am getting at? There is no “one look” to a beautiful body because we are all different. We all have different genetics that make us unique and that make us look different physically.
I’m pretty short, but I’ve learned to not get hung up about it and have embraced being short. I also have a pretty big booty and wide hips for my size. For years I felt self-conscious about my body because I believed that it was “out of proportion”, but what I have learned is that there is no “accurate proportion” when it comes to a body.
The truth is that we all (every human in the world) have things about our bodies that we don’t like, but that’s life. And so there is no point in wasting time feeling bad about these things. What we can do is love our bodies by treating them right (eating healthy food, exercising, drinking enough water, etc.) so that we feel amazing on the inside – and start to glow on the outside.
Here is a quote from Tina Fey’s popular book Bossy Pants:
“But I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty.
Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired.
And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful.Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyonce and JLo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful.
Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits.
The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”
A Little Perspective
Women today feel like they have to be everything and more, and feel the need to have all of these attributes to qualify as beautiful.
But can you imagine how funny someone would look if they actually had small Japanese feet, long Swedish legs, a Jamaican dancehall ass, hips of a nine year old boy and “big doll tits”? They would look out of proportion and potentially quite funny, and I’m not sure if their tiny feet would be able to balance the long legs, big dancehall ass and large boobs. They would probably fall over all the time.
We are all different, and we all have different body shapes and types. Every single person on this planet is different – even the famous twins, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, are different physically.
I will never have long Swedish legs and I will probably never be 5 foot 10 (unless I have a very late growth spurt). While I’ve spent years of my life getting all hung up about not having “the ideal body” (what I used to believe was the only beautiful body type), I’ve realized that there is no point. And in the past few years, while I have taken the time to LOVE my body just the way that it is (short legs, wide hips, big booty, etc.) I have found my most beautiful body. I have cared for it (by eating healthy foods and by exercising), I’ve loved it (flaws and all) and I feel like it has actually become more physically beautiful!
THE MAGIC OF BEAUTY
This is the “magic” that I am talking about – we are what we eat, we are what we think, we are what we speak and we are what we feel. I used to say things like “I hate my butt, it’s so big” and now I say “I love my booty, it’s amazing”.
During this time that I’ve changed the way I think and speak about my body, I have been able to tone up, lose weight and feel better about all of my assets – more than ever before! I have learned, after struggling with my weight and body image for many years that we can never be “perfect” and will never be “perfect”. There is no such thing as perfect.
I have also learned that there is absolutely no point in getting hung up about parts of our bodies that we hate. There is no point in focusing on the negative aspects of ourselves. We must instead choose to focus on the parts of ourselves that we love and choose to work with what we have been given, so that we can achieve our most beautiful bodies.
A beautiful body is a body that is looked after, nourished and taken care of. A beautiful body is not one particular look or one particular image. It is a body that is cared for and loved.
CHOOSE TO LOVE YOUR BODY
I have spent way too many years of my life feeling bad about certain parts of my body when there are so many good parts! Why didn’t I spend my time focusing on my best assets? Whatever we focus on is our reality. So if I focus on the parts of my body that I love then that is my current reality in life. If I only focus on the negative aspects of myself then that is my reality – that becomes what I think about, talk about and live.
Instead of waking up in the morning, looking at ourselves in the mirror and loathing what we see, we must choose to LOVE our bodies. We must choose to love our bodies by feeding ourselves the right food, by being active physically, and by looking in the mirror and choosing to love what we see (even though it’s hard sometimes – especially at the beginning of a journey).
There’s no point wasting precious time in life feeling bad about what you don’t have – so instead choose to LOVE your body and get YOUR most beautiful body ever (not someone else’s ideal body, YOUR most beautiful body). And that’s what the beautiful body movement is all about, it’s about us caring for, nourishing and loving our bodies – so that we can achieve OUR most beautiful bodies!
A little makeup can fix it
I truly believe that any women can look more physically beautiful by making an effort with her hair, clothing and makeup – and also by making an effort to eat healthier and do regular exercise.
But remember that there is more to beauty than just physical appearances – when you choose to love and be loved, this is when you become your most beautiful. Choosing to love yourself (which means taking care of yourself), showing love and kindness to others, and letting other people in to love you – these are the best ways to let your beauty radiate!
Remember that a beautiful body is a body that is looked after, nourished and taken care of. A beautiful body is not one particular look or one particular image. It is a body that is cared for and loved.
Liezl Jayne xo
Ps. I’ve also got a 3 day eating plan for weight-loss that you can download here on my blog – this is what I used to lose 40 Lbs!
Photos by Ross Charnock for liezljayne.com
