Beautiful you

   One morning while getting ready for work, I realized how much I was picking myself apart while standing in front of the mirror. I started with one physical trait and it snowballed from there. I remembering muttering something like, "Oh, well.." and walked out the door on my way to the office.
   The more I thought about the things I had said to myself that morning, the more I realized I was too busy looking for the flaws to see the characteristics that make me, me. I wondered if I was alone in this "pick on myself" kind of morning, so I posed the following challenge to my Facebook friends.
  "Think about your physical appearance. Tell me what one thing you like the best and one thing you like the least."
   As I began reading the responses, I was not surprised...at what people stated was the thing they liked the best about their physical appearance. When I thought about each person who posted, the trait they liked the best about themselves is what I noticed the most about them! It was definitely their "defining" physical trait in my eyes.
   I then looked at what they liked the least. The one thing they liked the least was something I didn't even notice about them. Several posted their weight or mid-section was what they liked the least. When I closed my eyes and thought about that person, I immediately thought of their best trait.
   The next morning, I had a conversation with my co-workers about my post. I told them the thing I liked the most about my physical appearance was my eyes and the least was the gap between my front two teeth. Their response? What gap?!
   I thought about the responses I had read and what my co-workers told me throughout the day. How could they have not noticed the gap? When I look in the mirror and smile, it looks enormous to me. Why didn't they notice it? For the exact reason I didn't notice the least liked physical traits my friends posted about themselves...we only tend to see physical flaws within our selves and beauty within others.
   We are only as beautiful as we feel and if our own worst enemy is in the mirror, we will never win the "self-confidence" battle. If we look in the mirror and criticize everything we see, how can we walk confidently into the world with our head held high? If you struggle with finding anything you like about yourself, you are not alone! We are looking in the mirror all wrong! We are looking in the mirror, fixing our eyes on the "flaws" instead of fixing our eyes on what makes us beautiful to the rest of the world. Ladies, it's time to begin looking in the mirror with a new attitude!

   Here's my BEAUTIFUL YOU seven day challenge! 
   1. Stand in front of the mirror and smile each morning.
   2. Take a marker and write on the mirror what catches your eye the most. It has to be positive!
   3. Each day, write something new on the mirror.
   4. Each day, send ONE friend a text or email something you think is beautiful about them.
   5. At the end of seven days, combine all the things you've written down about yourself and see
       how the positive has changed your view of the negative!

   Beauty stems from within and if we can look at ourselves with a fresh set of eyes, we will see ourselves the way others see us!