Real Female Beauty:
I’ve been thinking a lot about female beauty lately, mainly as my body begins to (slowly, but surely) change—becoming vegan, doing a 3 month detox, as well as bikram yoga is NOT FOR NOTHING YA’LL. Nevertheless, my standards for female beauty are changing as well. I was never told I was beautiful growing up so I had to base what I thought beauty was on external factors such as peers, movies, TV and magazines. No wonder I had an eating disorder and low self esteem. However, as God heals my heart and restores my spirit from the hurts of my past he is showing me what real female beauty is.
Real beauty is my 72 year old yoga instructor Georgia, with salt and pepper hair who smiles with her eyes and talks with a laugh. When doing the spinal twist yoga pose she sings “Let’s Twist Again” by Chubby Checker while dancing –which makes everyone laugh and forget they are doing ridiculously hot yoga. She is captivating, glowing and beautiful.
Real beauty is my Professor friend Kara with her buzz haircut and bright, mismatched thrift-shop clothes, who laughs with her belly and who challenges her students to think for themselves. When she talks with you, she looks you straight in the eyes and makes you feel like the only person on the planet. She is luminous, charming and beautiful.
Real beauty is Elaine, the vibrant secretary with the spunky earrings at my college who always asked how I was doing, and then stopped whatever she was doing to listen to my response. It was never a stalk question for her, she genuinely wanted to know. She would always have a stash of snacks available so that the students would never go hungry. That kind of motherly, unselfish love is beautiful.
Real beauty is a God who delights in his daughters and brings into fruition our long-ago forgotten secret dreams.
After a lifetime of stumbling in the dark, confused, lost and feeling anything but beautiful—I am humbled, grateful and in awe of a God who turned on the light in my spirit, so that I may recognize real beauty, not only in myself, but in other women, people and the world around me.
Yes, Sarena is right, 2008 is the year of total restoration indeed.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Random Things I Learned Today:
1. The free red Virgin Airline socks that you get when you take a plane overseas totally disintegrate when you wear them in real life. By the time I got to my 8pm Bikram Yoga class, they were paper thin and my feet were pretty much dyed red. I mean, COM'ON I already stand out in a class full of models and athletes in bikinis and speedos (it's HOT up in there ya'll) but RED FEET on a WHITE TOWEL?...Maybe nobody noticed.
2. I will pretend I am creepy stalker just so I will not blow a birthday prank. Lemmme explain...today is co-worker A's b-day (Side Note: it is also my brother's 25th b-day too!!! HAPPY B-DAY BROTHER!). Anywhoo, yesterday I thought it would be funny to change his screen saver to something obnoxious and birthday related before he got in in the morning and turned on his work computer. (His computer is locked by the by but my boss R is homie G's with IT and had them unlock his computer...they would have said no if I asked so THANKS R!!!) Sooo, to make a long story that is not even that funny EVEN longer, I found the perfect pics via the world wide inter-web and was trying to figure out how to arrange them when A walks by my desk and says, "HEY! Why am I on your computer?" and I said "gooo away stupid BOY!" OK, no I didn't but he was all "no really why do you have these pictures of me" and I was all "ahhh crap" and my co-workers were all pretending to work leaving me to think up a lie all on my own.
ME: (with a straight face): "I sorta stalk you."
A: "No really...why do you have pictures of me?"
ME: "No really...I like stalking you on the internet sometimes."
And then he looked at me weired and changed the subject.
HA....but today he got the little prank and was like, "uhh did you change my password too? b/c I can't get in."
Me: "I'm not REALLY stalking you...blame that on IT."
3. I also learned that I have zero tolerance for skinny male dancers in my yoga class complaining about their AND I QUOTE "meaty thighs." OH REALLY. GAG me w/ a spoon yo.
1. The free red Virgin Airline socks that you get when you take a plane overseas totally disintegrate when you wear them in real life. By the time I got to my 8pm Bikram Yoga class, they were paper thin and my feet were pretty much dyed red. I mean, COM'ON I already stand out in a class full of models and athletes in bikinis and speedos (it's HOT up in there ya'll) but RED FEET on a WHITE TOWEL?...Maybe nobody noticed.
2. I will pretend I am creepy stalker just so I will not blow a birthday prank. Lemmme explain...today is co-worker A's b-day (Side Note: it is also my brother's 25th b-day too!!! HAPPY B-DAY BROTHER!). Anywhoo, yesterday I thought it would be funny to change his screen saver to something obnoxious and birthday related before he got in in the morning and turned on his work computer. (His computer is locked by the by but my boss R is homie G's with IT and had them unlock his computer...they would have said no if I asked so THANKS R!!!) Sooo, to make a long story that is not even that funny EVEN longer, I found the perfect pics via the world wide inter-web and was trying to figure out how to arrange them when A walks by my desk and says, "HEY! Why am I on your computer?" and I said "gooo away stupid BOY!" OK, no I didn't but he was all "no really why do you have these pictures of me" and I was all "ahhh crap" and my co-workers were all pretending to work leaving me to think up a lie all on my own.
ME: (with a straight face): "I sorta stalk you."
A: "No really...why do you have pictures of me?"
ME: "No really...I like stalking you on the internet sometimes."
And then he looked at me weired and changed the subject.
HA....but today he got the little prank and was like, "uhh did you change my password too? b/c I can't get in."
Me: "I'm not REALLY stalking you...blame that on IT."
3. I also learned that I have zero tolerance for skinny male dancers in my yoga class complaining about their AND I QUOTE "meaty thighs." OH REALLY. GAG me w/ a spoon yo.
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