A few days ago I was watching a kid’s movie with my daughters on Netflix. Suddenly, two teenagers started to fight over the issue of their beauty. My elder daughter looked at me and laughed.
I laughed with her and told her that they are fighting over nonsense.
My elder daughter asked me, “Dad, is it essential to be beautiful in today’s world?”
I paused for a moment and didn’t reply with a straightforward answer.
I simply replied to my daughter, “It depends on your perception of what beauty means to you, it is in the eye of the beholder.”
I elaborated to her that someone might be beautiful for me but may not be beautiful for you.
I gave a simple answer to my daughter but the topic was really complicated to deal with a teenager.
One of the reasons, I think, it is complicated is because of the current social media’s influence. They always present tall and skinny ladies as the most beautiful.
In addition, they present flawless complexions, nice teeth, younger face, fuller lips, and smooth skin as beauty symbols.
I was thinking to myself, what kind of impact does it give to our teenage daughters?
As the social media portray, how much percentage of ladies are in that level of beauty around the globe?
“Beauty depends on our perception of what beauty means to us, it is in the eye of the beholder.”
I told my daughter, “In reality, these women’s pictures shown by social media are not real. You know how TikTok videos are made and edited in the media, you have to understand this part of the beauty industry. Everything you see in social media and TV is edited and scripted.”
How can we make our daughters understand that part of the hidden story is challenging.
This is hard to believe just by saying. We generally believe our internal impressions and act on our own desires.
To understand the rules of beauty, most of our teenage daughters should be able to recognize the illusory patterns in social media and TV.
In reality, all illusions are not visual, this is the biggest secret of the beauty industry.
The background behind these tall and skinny ladies is mysterious for our teenage daughters.
It is easier to recognize other people’s beauty than our own if we become victims of our own illusion.
To get a deeper understanding of this issue, I told my daughter to launch her own youtube channel.
Nowadays she does magic in pictures and videos in her channel.
We all are aware how much we can do by digital editing in pictures and videos.
Initially, she wasn’t interested in video works but as she became skilled in her task, her demand for energy diminished a lot. Nobel laureate and author of ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow,’ Daniel Kahneman, says that the pattern of activity linked with any task changes as our skill increases, with fewer brain regions involved.
Nowadays my daughter is very quick to edit pictures and videos.
She makes pictures and videos amazingly different in various forms than originals.
I realized that we all are born prepared to perceive the world around us, recognize objects, direct attention, and focus on what we like.
It is not the most beautiful from outside that attracts us, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change the status of beauty.
“It is not the most beautiful from outside that attracts us, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change the status of beauty.”
Once my daughter told me that we are most scared of dying, public speaking, and losing money.
After these three, fourth is being wrong and fifth is not being beautiful, especially for girls.
I immediately replied, “How did you know this?”
She replied, “I read somewhere in the book, but for me number five is quite surprising.
In my view, beauty should be the confidence to achieve something bigger.”
People who engage in a cause larger than themselves are the most beautiful ladies in the world.
Malala Yousafzai, Anuradha Koirala, and Oprah Winfrey are some of the representations.
I can’t understand how teenage girls bring such an image around their mind.
I recalled the experience of peeking at the beautiful lady at the neighbouring table in a restaurant many years ago when I was an undergraduate student.
That was natural and the result of my fast thinking on beauty but the result of slow thinking could be quite the opposite. This understanding came to me after reading “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman.
I told my daughter, “If you really want to be beautiful, there are several ways of achieving the same goal, but you should not quickly gravitate to the least demanding course of action; buy and use expensive cosmetics products.” By the way, some of these chemicals are corrosive and are the main causes of many diseases.
I added, “Believing yourself is beauty that is important for success. Your flexibility in your self-belief is the cornerstone for your sustaining beauty.”
The hardest and the most sustaining route to become beautiful is a daily healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.
A healthy diet and healthy habits should be routine work. James Clear, the author of ‘Atomic Habits’ teaches us scientifically how to build small, lasting routines and says that routine should not feel like routine in our life.
“The hardest and the most sustaining route to become beautiful is a daily healthy diet and healthy habits.”
Laziness is constructed deep into our own nature. We generally don’t act on pressing needs, this is not because we are lazy. We always operate on a certain principle that makes sense for us evolutionarily. We have a habit of conserving energy. If we see a threat, either we fight or flight against it but if it feels safe for us, we don’t waste energy.
Remember, beauty is not only the ability to be seen as attractive, it is the ability to find attractions in surroundings and to deploy our attention for good cause when needed.
To feel beauty differently, we must see differently than other people.
“To feel beauty differently, we must see differently than other people.”
When we feel beautiful on purpose, we feel deeper connectedness, we feel making contributions in society.
I told my daughter, “Effort in healthy habits and healthy diet is your cost, and the achievement of beauty is driven by the balance of advantages it brings to you and the cost you pay.”
“You don’t have to struggle to become beautiful if you are spending time to make your purpose and tasks beautiful around you.”
Keep in mind, “Switching from one habit of buying La Prairie and Dior products to another of healthy habits is effortful. Self control gives you lasting beauty but requires a little bit of effort, but it will be worth it in the long run.”
Beauty should be a part of our daily discipline because discipline is required for any great undertaking. We have to remember that Serena William brought beauty in tennis, JK Rowling brought beauty in Harry Potter, and Rosa Parks brought beauty in the freedom movement.
Beauty alone can not substitute our skill, talent, and insight.
The truth is, it is not enough to be beautiful; we must be consistently beautiful in our attitudes, behaviours, and the work we do throughout our lifetime.
“The truth is, it is not enough to be beautiful; we must be consistently beautiful in our attitudes, behaviours, and the work we do throughout our lifetime.”
Ancient Greek Philosopher Plato said “Beauty is transient in nature and open to interpretation.”
Conclusion
Beauty depends on our perception of what beauty means to us, it is in the eye of the beholder. It is not the most beautiful from outside that attracts us, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change the status of beauty.
The hardest and the most sustaining route to become beautiful is our daily healthy diet and healthy habits. To feel beauty differently, we must see differently than other people. The real truth is, it is not enough to be beautiful; we must be consistently beautiful in our attitudes, behaviours, and the work we do throughout our lifetime.
Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.
Disclaimer: “Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.”
