I like to observe people. Their appearance is like a window into their lifestyle, history and mind. Why some people look beautiful and others don't? Why they are perceived as beautiful? I found this definition of beauty: "Beauty is an ascription of property that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure and satisfaction. Beauty is being in balance and harmony with nature leading to attraction and emotional wellbeing."
Key words: pleasure, satisfaction, balance, harmony and emotional well being.
What our emotional well being, harmony and satisfaction depend on? When we are children it depends on the love we receive from people around us, particularly our mothers. What is love? To me it is power. What is power? It's a vital energy that makes us strong. When our mothers give us milk they make us physically strong and when they give us their affection they make us emotionally strong and balanced, Erich Fromm calls it honey.
I have been travelling to Italy a lot and the Italian people seemed very beautiful to me. Why? I have noticed that Italian mothers always praise their children, express their love so passionately, constantly called them Bellissima or Bellissimo! Litle Italians get plenty of milk and honey. I come from Russia, and in my country parents tend to make sure that their children are well fed and well educated, but there is a tendency to criticise children. In Russia, at least in the past, to say to a child that he or she is beautiful was seen as a bad tone and an encouragement of narcissism. Sadly no honey for Russian kids. When I visit Russia, I notice that, although technically people have symmetrical facial features and nice bodies, somehow something is missing... That deep belief “I am beautiful” is missing. No wonder many Russian girls opt for fake lips and other beauty procedures because there is an underlying belief: I am not good enough. Whilst little Italians feel love and know on a very deep level that they are very beautiful. They carry this belief with them, I can see it in their self-presentation.
What our emotional well being, harmony and satisfaction depend on when we adults and our parents are no longer here? Recently I heard someone said on social media that we are beautiful not because we have conventional attributes of beauty, but because we were told that we are beautiful many times. Indeed when someone falls in love with me and then tells me many times that I am beautiful others start telling me too that I look beautiful.
The question is though can we rely on others to feel emotionally well? I personally would feel like a slave. I prefer to love myself and make myself stronger. How? I have noticed one thing that definitely makes me more beautiful: when I overcome my laziness and act like a better version of myself. We are all born beautiful, and to become more and more beautiful as adults we create ourselves. It is art. I found this definition of art: "Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artworks, expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas or technical skill intended to be appreciated by beauty or emotional power."
Key words: Imagination, beauty and emotional power.
Today I was watching TV and saw a very famous male stripper, he has a gorgeous body, beautiful features of the face. From a distance, he looks like a God of Beauty. As soon as he opens his mouth and you see the expression in his eyes somehow his beauty disappears. There is no intellect in his eyes and his language is dull and boring. That reminded me what a famous Russian writer, Anton Checkov once said: ‘Everything must be beautiful in a human, his face, and his clothes, and his soul and his thoughts.’
I call myself my favourite work of art. That to me, first of all, empowering myself with vital energy through body and mind work. Feeling healthy, well-groomed and strong, full of excitement and gratitude for this wonderful gift I have - my life!