Dear 4 Courage,
We touched on the issue of 'beauty' in one of our P4C lessons some time back. Here's an article which I found to be very interesting and would like to share with all of you. Do you have any comments after reading it? Pen it down in the blog.

What is Beauty?

Whether something is regarded as "beautiful" or not depends on the prevailing or most popular definition. The definition changes from era to era, culture to culture, and from fashion designer to fashion designer.

There's nothing wrong with appreciating beauty, but if we come to worship what's being sold to us as "beautiful", and begin to revile others, even ourselves for not making the grade, then it's time to ponder our definition of beauty.

Are we forsaking worthy parts of ourselves like our talents, lovingness, kindness, humour, and health for the sake of our appearance? Are we causing grief and distress to ourselves because we don't fit the mould they use for churning out swimsuit models?

Our external appearance is only a part of the package. We are more than our body. And if your body is healthy, then you are more blessed than many other people. Besides the Body, there is the Mind, the Heart, the Soul. Placing more importance on the exterior breeds discontent, fear, envy, and self-loathing.

Beauty, in its most wholesome sense, has to be authentic. The real You is the most attractive thing about you. If you depend solely on your external appearance to feel loved or valuable, then you'll probably forget to nurture your other attributes. In time, you'll find that you are not much more than a shell.

Beauty is being comfortable with yourself. It's the realization that you truly are your own person. That you are no longer accountable to the judgement of others. This is you and this is what you do, and the judgement of others should in no way overshadow your own interests and mental well-being.

Redefining beauty for yourself is a continual process. It means not mindlessly accepting what is being portrayed to you as desirable or good. It means allowing yourself time and space to explore your inner emotions, hopes, and dreams.

Beauty is your whole Being. It's your goofy laugh, your creativity, your generous heart, your corny jokes. It's your enthusiasm, your appreciation of the simple things in life, your piety, your dedication, the plain acceptance of your flaws.

The closer to get to what is true in you, the more you understand yourself - your strengths, your weaknesses, your motivations, and fears. You also learn that even if you strip yourself of your external value and power, you are no less beautiful and lovable. An important consequence that comes from this is also that you learn to appreciate others more fully for who they are, not just what you can see.

A Slice of Life is written, produced and presented by Eugene Loh unless otherwise stated. If you wish to share the scripts with others, please credit it to 'Eugene Loh, A Slice of Life, 938LIVE, a station of MediaCorp Radio'.