Learning to Feel Good About Yourself

It's interesting how our self esteem can be ruined, or even enhanced by what we think of ourselves.

I watched a video today, which I believe is a Dove commercial, where a forensic portrait artist drew pictures of women from how they described themselves, then asked someone else to describe them and how different the pictures came out. The pictures of how the women were describing themselves were sad, plump or withdrawn, lacking spirit, lethargic and worn. Whereas, when someone else described their faces, they were more upbeat - focusing less on the chubbiness or angular faces, talking about small chins rather than 'my mum always said I had a big chin,' the eyes were more alive and the lines were lessened. Essentially, they were feeling and trying to describe the personality behind the face.

So it begs to say, why do we focus on all the negatives in our face? The lines, the sagging skin, the dark circles, the pimples and spots, the hormonal hair, the raised mole? Why can't we accept that all those things make us who we are, and our beauty comes from the inside? I guess that's where make-up comes in. It's designed to cover up all our flaws, so we apply make-up to hide what we don't want other people to see, or what we don't like about ourselves. Make-up tells us to focus on our imperfections by the very nature of applying it. When we apply make-up, we look for all the things that make us unhappy with our physical presence, and we've been taught, through advertising and by just being women, that make-up will make us feel better in ourselves. But isn't it just as true, by plucking away at unwanted hair, applying make-up to sensitive skin or just the lack of sleep we don't give ourselves for the worry of not looking the best we can be, is actually bringing on the pimples, the dark circles and the excessive hair? Maybe we need to start showing our daughters that it's OK to be more 'au naturel' and that make-up is doing more harm that good - both physically to our faces and mentally to our self-esteem...

So it's time to do something for yourself... wake up tomorrow and 'appreciate' who you are. Look for all the things you actually like about yourself. It might be your eye colour, it might be the freckles on your nose, it might be the shape of your lips, your long eye lashes, the way your hair sits, or your cheek bones. Apply 'accent' make-up, not cover-up make-up, and go outside looking fresh, renewed and confident in your own skin. It will do you a world of good, and people will notice the difference.

Here's the link to the Dove ad. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EdOJgRZODM