As I look for a point in time to start my blog today, based on the theme True Beauty, I find myself travelling back to my own journey, the journey called life.
As far as I can remember I used to be looked at with a bit of sympathy for not inheriting the “good looks” that were a norm in my family with an incandescent mom and sisters for company! I’ve overheard conversations between my mother and her friends who were asking her ” How did you have such a daughter?” Another well meaning cousin once advised my mother to save enough as getting girls of the likes of me married would not be an “easy task” .
To give my mother her due she stoically defended her ugly duckling and reiterated that she was proud I took after my father. Anyways I wasn’t traumatized much by these remarks – they were just part of me and my growing up. I started looking for and building on my strengths at a very early age, I discovered that there was something I could take pride in and that was the easy way academics came to me. I could grasp concepts and barely needed to study by rote in the formative years at school. This was one armor I developed against the harsh realities of not conforming to the conventional idea of beauty that I sadly lacked.
Another facet of mine that I recognised was that I was a good listener and genuinely empathized with people and they found it easy to confide in me. This trait brought me in touch with the real people inside each facade. It was an eye opener and it was fascinating. This trend continued through medical school which we entered in late teens – the period of life, where all of us give our hearts away, take some of them and also break many in this process. I was the keeper of many a secret, a shoulder to lean on and yes sometimes to cry on.
As I got to know the people within the people and got a glimpse into their soul, I also understood that as I interacted with each one of them I enriched myself with their own experiences, their reactions to them and my own reactions as well. I saw the human mind as the most powerful creator and destroyer of people, relationships families and personae. Dealing with people and their minds was done in an instinctive and intuitive way, the way I dealt with every issue in life.
As I grew older, my perspectives on life, my views, my values began to evolve as I met more and more people. Many of them were not a permanent part of my life. There are many of them who I am no longer in touch with, mostly due to circumstances but there are a handful who parted on a bitter note.
However I carry a tiny bit of each of those souls and lives I touched within me. I’m sure whether acknowledge it or not, whether they feel it or not, they too carry a microcosm of me in them.
This to me is the true beauty of life and love and people. We are like waves in the sea as they hurtle towards the beach. On their way they meet other waves that are receding and as they merge, both change, some imperceptibly, some noticeably. But neither is the same ever again.
And so is the story of our lives. Even in today’s technology driven world, nothing can replace a loving hug, an intense look conveying emotions, a gentle touch, a passionate kiss, an unspoken bond across a crowded room. As an old cliche goes, there are still things in the world that money can’t buy.
And am I glad that they are there, inspiring us to do the best we can, in the best way we can.
True beauty lies in each one of us whatever our outward appearance.
The beauty of being able to empathize.
The beauty of being able to lend a patient ear.
The beauty of acknowledging a kind gesture, a talent , a hobby.
The beauty of being able to feel what the other person is going through and not telling them to get through it but helping them to do just that.
The beauty of nurturing a hobby, supporting and encouraging the other person achieve a dream and taking pride in it.
The beauty of seeing the flaws in another person but accepting them with the flaws. The beauty of everlasting love.
The beauty of finding, recognizing and keeping soulmates.
The beauty of finding strength in one’s own views that may be unconventional and not conforming to society’s ideas – be they about beauty – outward appearance or making a choice.
The beauty of keeping a word once given.
The beauty of finding happiness in making other people happy.
The beauty of sharing and caring, loving and giving.
This is the true beauty that is reflected on our faces, that no amount of facials or creams can ever create. On the contrary, if one has that kind of beauty within us all other aids would enhance that spark and magnify that beauty, effortlessly.
Let us, each one of us, a wave or wavelet meet other waves with an open mind, absorb the positivity and discard the negativity. Let us move on, infinitesimally or drastically changed forever carrying within us a microcosm of each life we touch, within us for infinity and leaving a tiny bit of us in them, to carry.
I found that when life threw lemons at me this was the best way to make lemonade out of them, as a doctor, a person, a friend, a wife or a mother.
True beauty to me is touching lives, wherever we are.
Here’s to true beauty making this world a truly beautiful place.
For eternity, forever.
I believe every woman has TRUE BEAUTY within her in all the roles she plays. For over 18 years across 650 plus salons across the country, Naturals has been helping the Beautiful Indian Woman get more Beautiful.
Today Naturals Salutes the Beautiful Indian Woman.
Presenting Naturals TRUE BEAUTY… http://bit.ly/naturalsOF
Ripples N Reflections 