THE BEAUTY EXPERIENCE -THROUGH THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER

 There is a saying that I believe is true; “When I judge, I lose the experience, when I “be” I am the experience.”  What experience is that?  The experience to see what needs to be seen, the experience of seeing the humanity in someone and therefore not missing out on all that person has to give, the experience of seeing the beauty inside someone, which is the true essence of who they are.

You may be one of those that quietly say to yourself (or maybe you even say it out loud to your friends)”I don’t judge people”.   Most of us like to believe, or at least pretend, that we don’t judge.    I hate to burst your bubble, but you aren’t exempt just by claiming that you don’t judge people.   We all do it.  It’s just human nature, in fact it’s a built-in survival strategy, and it’s usually caused by fear.   You see, we all have fears and our fears manifest themselves in judgments.  We judge ourselves and others mostly by what we see on the outside, because human beings are mostly visual assessors.

Here’s my personal confession,   I used to care a lot about what people thought of me until someone told me something that changed my life.  Here’s the scenario;  At the beginning of my career of teaching my personal growth workshop at Breakthrough Workshops, I was concerned about how to present a particular subject, and quite unaware that I was about to have a breakthrough of my own.  My mentor and good friend said to me, “What people think of you is none of your business. What you think of you is your business!  Take the focus off of you, and you will be able to see through people. You will just see beauty “.That day he gave me a new set of eyes, and it was a major life changing moment for me!  At that moment I made a choice to see through people into their heart and soul, and what happened as a result is that I automatically became more authentic and began to see a new world in the  exchange of human spirit.  Since I was no longer worried about people making judgments on me, it took the focus off taking and turned it into something real.  From that moment on, BEAUTY showed up instead of bodies!  

Here is the definition of beauty from the dictionary:  The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being.  Because this is a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."^[1] In its most profound sense, beauty may engender a salient experience of positive reflection about the meaning of one's own existence. A subject of beauty is anything that resonates with personal meaning.

A positive reflection?

The saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is so true, as I found out for myself.  I say it’s time we upgrade that saying to “Beauty is through the eyes of the beholder.  How does it happen?  It shows up when YOU show up authentically and just “be” yourself, but that takes a willingness to stop judging yourself as well as not judging others.

Are you interested in having a breakthrough in your own beauty?  It takes a new set of eyes to see something different. It starts with the willingness and new point of view for yourself and others. It is really a choice.   Try starting by thinking of looking through a camera lens, which sees things from the particular angle that you have pointed it towards. The angle is the lens’ ONLY point of view at that moment, but if you turned around, the camera lens would have a different point of view. It isn’t possible to make a change or have a breakthrough without looking at something with a different point of view. 

Looking at our own reflection with a different point of view causes change for everyone!  Often we will look in the mirror and look for approval for our own outer shell.  Make no mistake, THIS is judgment in its purist form, and might be a surprise to you to know that you, who think you’re not judgmental, are judging yourself!   Why not look at yourself with a different point of view and focus on who you are and who you want to be for people?   You will see that true beauty exists through your experience, because your focus will be on what is inside instead of what you see from the outside.  If you do this you will “be” different, and see differently. (By the way, did you notice that the word “beauty” starts with the letters “BE”?)

So here’s your “Ah-ha!” moment:  Beauty is seen through  . . . eyes!  Your eyes.  That’s really all there is.