My intro to I-Beauty post mentions how important inner beauty is. I would like to continue that thought. You may have read my other blog posts where I write about makeup, hair, fashion, etc., which is very important in looking your best, presenting your best self to the world and improving your confidence. Equally as important, the other side of the coin is, inner beauty.
When you hear the words inner beauty, what does that mean to you? To me, it simply means you are beautiful on the inside. Pretty self-explanatory. And so what makes you beautiful on the inside? Well, I think important inner beauty traits are a warm heart, respectful, positive, good manners, honest, friendly, dependable, humble, generous, caring, compassionate. All the good stuff.
When I was a young teen, my mom made me and my sister read the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Have you read it? As a young person, I was a bit resistant and thought it was rather lame at the time, however, deep down, I liked it and learned a lot. In fact, consciously and subconsciously, I have followed his insights throughout my life. If you haven’t read it, I recommend reading it or re-reading it and highly encourage you to pass it on to youths to read as a stepping stone to adulthood. His insights will provide a good base for social interactions, employment and is helpful in all aspects of life. I fully believe this.
The reality is, we all get wrapped up in our lives thinking about what we are doing, what we are not doing, where we are going, where we are not going, what we have, what we don’t have. Maybe we should pause and look at who we are and who we not are. Are we who we want to be? Do we want to be better?
I have met some incredibly beautiful people in my life, and when I think of them, I aspire to be better. Of course, no one is perfect, however, it is always beneficial to learn all the good stuff from others and recognize how we ourselves can do better and be better.
So what can you do?
I have listed my top 5 virtues of inner beauty. These are what are important to me and the ones I follow and strive to do better. Maybe you will find these important to you and strive to do better also. As a caveat, this is not rocket science, or ground breaking new information, or vastly different to what you have heard before. However, this can be a good refresher and a reminder to do in practice.
| 1. Treat others how you want to be treated | A person cannot expect to be treated in a certain way if they, themselves do not treat others in that same way. That’s crazy talk! That does not work and will never work. We should not under-estimate the importance of being nice and treating people with respect. It’s that simple really, be nice, be respectful. Now, however, I will say that if you treat others a certain way and you are not treated the same way in return, perhaps it is time to re-consider that relationship. |
2. Make others feel comfortable | This is multi-faceted, however, in a nutshell, it is simply about being aware, recognizing how others are feeling and doing what you can to make them feel comfortable. Whether you are meeting with one friend or in a social gathering, be aware of their behaviour. It is easy to spot if someone is uncomfortable if you are paying attention. If someone is uncomfortable and not participating in conversation for example, ask them questions, pay special attention to them, include them, compliment them, introduce them to someone with a common interest etc., there are many ways to help them. Take them under your wing and do something about it. If it helps, imagine if you were that person…what would make you feel more comfortable, and simply do that. |
| 3. Be genuinely interested in what others have to say | This boils down to listen more than you talk. Not to be someone that loves to talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Listen. Be involved. Be engaged. Be genuinely interested in what they are saying i.e: be more interested in them than yourself. |
4. Give genuine compliments | We are all people with feelings at the end of the day. No, we don’t need constant validation from others, however, we do need to feel good, feel important and it is nice to receive a compliment. Therefore, we should be the one to extend compliments. It’s that simple. It will lift someone’s spirits and improve their day. If you do not typically give compliments to others, why? If you think it, say it, do not hold back. Think about how it feels when you receive one and extend that feeling to someone else. |
| 5. Have empathy and sympathy | Give others understanding and compassion, rather than be unaffected. There are many ways to show empathy or sympathy for example: your time, your words, your responses, your tone, your touch, your behaviour, your help, etc. Provide a fellow human being the gentleness they need. Similar to what I mentioned in #2, think about if you were that person, what would you like someone to say, do, respond or behave, and simply do that. |
Final Thoughts
If you want to improve and be the best person you can be, it would help to surround yourself with others of the same common mind. Find people who inspire you to be better. Hang out with the people who bring out the best in you. What goes around comes around.
In life, I-beauty is most important. Be a nice person. Be a good person. Everyone is attracted to that.
All the best and until next time…
