Society Limits Beauty

I, just like everyone else have always been surrounded by judgments and opinions on what is beautiful and what is not. There seems to have been a spectrum to classify beauty. Of course, sometimes, depending on the person, one thing might fall on a different level of the spectrum than it would with others, but in general you will see a pattern of where objects, people, and things in nature may fall along the spectrum. You’re culture, your age, your gender may all influence the amount of beauty you think one thing contains… but honestly – what is beauty? How can you say one thing is beautiful and another thing isn’t? How can you really say anything is ugly? Whether it’s a person, a pebble, a painting, or even just a pencil, why is one more beautiful than the other?

Society has defined beauty, and with defining beauty – has also limited it. People are so critical of themselves because they have an image in their head of what features make a person pretty. Yes, I am guilty of this, but I’m trying more and more not to be. We look at ourselves bit by bit… we don’t like the shape of our nose, or the size of our thighs, or the structure of our jaw etc. Why not just look at ourselves as a whole? Why not allow every head shape, every nose shape, every size, every curve, every color, even every scar be a form of beauty?? It’s here, you can see it, it’s all unique… why can’t the uniqueness of everything define beauty. Why can’t beauty be endless and ugly nonexistent? Every scar tells a story… doesn’t that alone make it beautiful? Every feature of you is because of your genes… doesn’t that make it beautiful? Every tree, every river, every rock came so naturally, so shouldn’t it all be beautiful? Every man made object… Let yourself see beyond the physical part, let the creation of it be the beauty. Appreciate the spectacular… but also appreciate the ‘everyday’… I think by doing so, you’ll find a lot more meaning to life… isn’t that what we’re all looking for? What’s the point in deciding things are ugly or not good enough? No, you don’t have to be attracted to everything – sometimes things just don’t ‘go’… but you can still find the beauty if you let yourself, let how it doesn’t ‘go’ be the reason for it’s beauty. Society has truly limited beauty. You’re constantly told what is or isn’t beautiful. How have we let something with the potential of being so broad, so endless, seem so refined? Just take a minute and look around, and try to think beyond what you’ve always been ‘told’ – acknowledge every color, every texture, every shape – even every smell, and every sound… find the beauty.

Added to that... was just talking to a friend as I'm struggling through some things and my mind has been eating myself alive. Then I thought back to this blog post and asked her and myself if according to my philosophy, are the hard times suppose to be beautiful too? She said maybe... and I said "yeah, they are". So she asked me why the hard times are beautiful. I told her it was for a lot of reason.. because the things that lead up to it all... it's just life... the way you react is an art form, it all becomes important in shaping who you are... so yeah, there's beauty in it. Pain has a reason... so there's beauty in it. the connections of everything make up the beauty. It's like the physical scars... there are stories behind them.. same with emotional wounds. Beauty doesn't have to be happy... most art pieces come from pain. So yeah, even the negative emotions, and the unpleasant events came be considered beautiful if you think of it all of a form of art, if you think of how everything all connects to make it what it is, it might all suck sometimes, but try to see beyond the surface.