Last week I felt pretty twice. Two separate times I caught a gimps of myself in my rear view mirror in the car and though beautiful!!!The first time this was just a passing thought. I did not dwell on it. I just went about driving wherever I was going, I think to work. The 2nd time, my thought of feeling beautiful was quickly followed by, wow that's the 2nd time this week and then followed by the questioning thoughts, why am I surprised that to feel beautiful twice in a week, why only two times, shouldn't I feel beautiful most of the time if not all of the times?
These are the thoughts leading to this blog post. While I don't think we should be vain or conceited about our looks, I do think that feeling good about our appearance is essential aspect of feeling more joyful. Not all or even most of our joy is related to our looks but liking or not liking what you see in the mirror definitely impacts confidence, self esteem, and happiness. So the fact that I only felt beautiful twice in a week is a bit concerning.
It's not that I feel unattractive because that is not the case. I guess most of the time catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror either generates no reaction or a negative reaction. Most often its no reaction. Unfortunately, more than twice a week I will look in the mirror and have some kind of negative thought about a pimple, my weight, my hair not cooperating, my eyebrows looking unruly etc.
I have been trying to figure out what was different about the two time last week when I felt beautiful. I am at a lost. The 2nd time I just had my hair done but the first time I hadn't. Neither time did I have on much makeup. The first time was in the morning, not much sunlight, the 2nd was mid afternoon, bright and sunny. I was not wearing anything special either time. The only think I can think of is maybe these were the only two times that I was not rushing and actually took the time to look at myself. That combined with the fact I was looking in a rear view mirror, too small to really zero in on imperfections, allowed me to appreciate myself and feel beautiful.
It may be unrealistic to feel beautiful every time I look in the mirror but It's not a bad goal to aim for right? How often do you feel beautiful? When you find yourself feeling beautiful does it surprise you?
