Take a moment and think of how you define a beautiful person. Now think about that list. Did you describe a certain body type, hair color, eye color, face shape, or maybe even personal style? Most of us probably conjured up a definition that only our eyes could appreciate.

Recently I went to a meditation session where during Shavasana we were left with one final thought, “think about the words you speak. If they were to show up on your skin would you be considered a beautiful person?” For some reason, that message really resonated with me and has been something that will occasionally pop into my head as I listen to my peers and myself talk.

How different do you think we would act as society, how differently we would treat and speak of one another if it was all the words that we have spoken in our past were what people got the first impression of us from and not how tall we were, if we had curly or straight hair or the shape of our noses?

What instead of our personality and behaviors being veiled by our looks our looks were veiled by our words and actions?

How differently would your definition of a beautiful person be then?

Would you be able to still look at yourself in the mirror and love what you saw?

These are the types of questions that have been swimming in my head. How different our world would be if we were not so easily able to make judgments based off of our eyes but instead with your emotions, heart, soul, or whatever internal working you believe in.

We have all been told that beauty is skin deep, but how many of us actually take that to heart when we hear the judgments that everyone makes over the way someone looks or dresses, idolizes the beautiful, and are willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve beauty we can only see with our eyes?

Western society is a culture where very few are willing to put a large amount of effort or even the time it takes to soul search and create a beautiful, internal self. It is time that we all put on the blindfolds, use your eyes only to appreciate a beautiful sunrise, children playing together, or an act of kindness between two strangers.

Close your eyes from the judgments you base on someone looks and the reflection that looks back at you in the mirror. Instead look with your heart, let it draw you to the people that make you feel joy inside and let it guide you in actions that make feel wholesome. Trust your heart to show you what real beauty is not your eyes.