Beauty Divine

The quest for beauty, age defiance and physical enhancement are at an all time high. The beauty industry, comprised of simple salons to mega-corporate giants, pulls in billions of dollars annually. People are obsessed with making themselves beautiful and more attractive for their own personal satisfaction and so others can see them they want to be seen. Not only do people search for ways to enhance themselves, but they also seek beauty and attraction in other things, most notably a dating partner.

Some people might conclude that canvassing the importance of beauty in the dating world is a bit gratuitous. We all know its out there and it can even be considered nature's cruelest form of sexual selection. You either have it or you don't. However, I think it is a poignant topic of consideration whether you are just now entering the dating realm or you have been in it for years and whether you are male or female. Today's society places heavy weight on good looks in the work place and in social scenes. You can't escape it and you can not deny it. Amidst growing liberties, democracy, the abolition of racial and religious oppression and the rising demand for an open mind one would naturally assume that our advanced culture would not treat certain individuals better simply because of advantageous genetic facial features. But we all know that this is the furthest from the truth. We see it every day.

Doctor Nancy Etcoff, a faculty member of Harvard University and a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, has beautifully illustrated the ageless hunt for beauty in her book Survival of the Prettiest. I was enthralled with the hundreds of references throughout history Dr. Etcoff found and adapted to the importance of beauty. One of the most interesting ones involved Eleanor Roosevelt. When asked if she had any regrets she remarked that she only wished she had been prettier. To hear a statement such as this coming from a heroine to women everywhere, it makes one want to examine why and how being beautiful or handsome plays such a dubious role in our every day lives. As Dr. Etcoff examines this very thought further in her book, I think it would be best if we just accept our idealistic qualities and move on to facing them.

When it comes down to selecting new single men and women we choose to date, our very first assessment of the potential mate is based on looks. Most people will say that they are looking for more profound qualities such as character, motivation, sensitivity, a commonality in activities, beliefs and a sense of humor and that looks, although important, are not at the top of the list. Of course everyone wants to feel as if he or she had more noble intents in mind. And although this may be true, nature tends to sway our first choice. Psychological tests upon tests show that we all gravitate towards the more attractive person at first. This is not something that we can readily help, nor can we consider it malevolent behavior. It is simply programmed into us from commercials, magazine ads, celebrities and more. It is a learned responsive behavior. While not everyone looks like Naomi Campbell or Brad Pitt and there are only a few genetic anomalies in this world who apparently represent what we all should look like, we can all take steps and measures to improve the way we look and how we appear to others. It is the very first rule in dating!

The first person you need to impress is yourself. When you look good you feel good. Take advantage of what modern science has created in the field of beauty. From getting the basic proper shampoo and conditioner for you hair to hair regrowth products and surgery, from makeup to enhance your features to elective surgery for more dramatic effects. Your wardrobe should be a priority issue as well. If you are still showing up at the door to pick up your date in those same ripped jeans you have had since the 1980's, think about a complete wardrobe overhaul. Getting in shape is an absolute must. Not only does it show that you care about your body, it is essential for your health and it will help you to feel great physically and emotionally. The better you feel about yourself, the more confident you will appear. And confidence is a very sexy and appealing part of your overall appearance.

In her book Dr. Etcoff assumes that people, mostly men, are more attracted to beautiful people for short term relationships while beauty is less important when seeking a committed relationship. However, it is that attractive quality of sex appeal which will get you in the door. When you are just getting to know people for dating purposes such as with the use of online dating resources, your appearance is going to be one of the most compelling forces in attracting dates. Everyone wants someone to fall in love with them for the right reasons, but you can't change basic human instinct and the natural affinity for beauty. You don't have to be the most beautiful or most handsome person in the room, but you can take the time and effort to look the best you possibly can.
About the Author
The Advice Diva has written four self-help guides on relationships and dating which can be found at http://www.advicediva.com She also hosts an online advice column which is completely free of charge. The Diva does not claim to be an expert in any field. However, she has the ability to understand relationships through past experience and her incredible insight.

Beauty Comes From Within

Since real beauty comes from within, it's important that your beauty products bring out your best natural qualities. Natural beauty product reviews can help you choose which products are best suited to your own individual needs.

One popular type of natural beauty product is stretch mark removal cream. Since stretch marks are pretty common--their causes range from pregnancy to body building--a lot of people can be helped by a natural, effective treatment for them. While reading natural beauty product reviews, I noticed that the best stretch mark remedies contain high amounts of Emu Oil, Aloe Vera Gel, Collagen, Elastin and Vitamin E. When these key ingredients are combined in a highly concentrated cream, they can not only help reduce stretch marks you already have, but actually help prevent new ones from forming!

One of the most helpful things about natural beauty product reviews is that they tell you about the ingredients in the best beauty products out there. Whenever you're looking for skin treatments--whether it's cellulite cream, spider vein therapy, sunless tanning or stretch mark removal--you want to make sure that the ingredients are safe and actually make your skin look better, not worse. What's the point of diminishing stretch marks if the skin around them becomes red and irritated? Natural beauty products tend to be safer, because they don't include a lot of harsh chemicals in their ingredients.

If you're fair skinned like I am, you know how hard it can be to enjoy the great outdoors. There's nothing unusual about stretch marks or cellulite or spider veins. They are the natural effects of having bodies that grow and change. Using natural, high quality products to safely improve your skin's appearance can help you feel less self-conscious at the beach or in the bedroom.

Then your natural, individual beauty can shine through!


About the Author
Dermaglow provide natural and organic skin care products to help stretch marks, cellulite and spider viens. http://www.dermaglow.co.uk/index.html

Beauty Foods That Will Keep You Young and Healthy

You’ve heard that old saying: True beauty comes from within. Well, now nutritional experts have confirmed that you really are what you eat.
Forget French fries and fatty hamburgers. If you want to look beautiful and feel young and healthy, you’ll eat a generous variety of super foods that have been proven to work wonders on the human body.
For a list of vitamin rich foods see: http://www.1-minute-beauty-diva.com/ArticlesVitaminsandBeauty.html
Whether you’re on a low fat diet, low carb diet, or no diet, adding these super foods to your plate should become as second nature to you as putting your lipstick on in the morning.
Healthy Skin – Eat: blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, currants, purple grapes, pumpkin, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes
Healthy Eyes – Eat: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens
Strong Bones – Eat: yogurt, kefir, soy, tofu, Drink: skim milk
Reduce Stress – Eat: beans (navy, pinto, red, black, etc.), green beans, sugar snap peas, green peas, chick peas
Boost Immune System – Eat: turkey, skinless chicken breast, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, spinach, Drink: black or green tea
Sun Protection for Skin – tomatoes, watermelon, pink grapefruit
For more information on beauty and health visit: http://www.1-minute-beauty-diva.com/ArticlesVitaminsandBeauty.html


About The Author
Copyright 2004
Donna Monday writes beauty related articles for http://www.1-minute-beauty-diva.com.

 

Real Beauty Fitness

Fitness and beauty can be one and the same. Being fit and healthy
will automatically make you look better. A healthy inside creates
a healthy outside.

Fitness through exercise can help you to maintain a healthy
body weight and improve muscle tone.

Our looks reflect the sum total of who we are and how we live,
and the best we can do in life is to make the best of what
nature has given is, without excuse, apology, or pretense.
If we try to live otherwise, we find ourselves acting on a stage
with other actors and actresses--great pretenders without real
friends, without real lovers, without real relationships.

While we realize that there is such a thing as "natural beauty,"
which is beyond all standards of culture and history in some
sense, there are also "relative" standards of beauty.

We all know about fads, styles, and adornments that are "in" one
season and "out" the next. This includes cosmetics, hair styles,
clothing, and even body weight and size.

These standards may vary from country to country, year to year,
or even among different age groups in the same country and year.

For example, full figures are considered the ideal in some
historical periods, but slender figures are valued now--at
least in Western countries.

The point is that cultural standards change--and we may choose
to follow or ignore them--because the cultivation of natural
beauty is not dependent upon fads.

In order to get along harmoniously, whether at the level of
dating, courtship, or marriage, men and women have to get past
physical looks and into the more important qualities that make
up human relationships, such as kindness, friendship, and areas
of mutual interest.

There is such a thing as a beautiful personality. There can be
beauty in the way a person thinks. An attitude or smile can be
beautiful. Love is certainly beautiful, and all of life is
beautiful when we are in love.

A person is truly beautiful when he or she is healthy. Any
disease or illness affects all parts of the body, sometimes
for many years before the symptoms are manifested. If the body
and mind are not healthy, then a person cannot feel or be truly
attractive.

Good health brings a glow to the skin, a ring to the voice, a
twinkle to the eye, and a spring to the step that no beauty
school can teach.

Learn more at Beauty Fitness.

www.a1-natural-health-and-beauty.com
About the Author
Ruby Boyd is the owner of  

Beauty of Nature Talent of Man, a New Ancient Art Form

Beauty of Nature Talent of Man, a New Ancient Art Form

Since Mankind first stood erect and developed a consciousness of the world in which he lived; Nature has been a place of many dangers. Violence and death, the need to survive, and the biological urge to reproduce, and to nurture ourselves and our offspring has always been a prime motivational factor.

Being alert to our surroundings has profound implications, and is as pertinent today as it was in the distant primitive past.

"He's street smart", Is one way that we designate and congratulate the modern man, who has learned to be aware of his basic world and how to survive.

All living things, share this "aware of surroundings, street smart" necessity for survival.

There are many things which separate us as Humans, from other living things. Most are obvious, and have been studied, examined, dissected, and extrapolated ad nauseum.

However, the Human Spirit, has special abilities and insights which help to define the Soul inherent in Human existence, and is actually a definitive proof of its existence.

Recognition of beauty. Not the beauty necessary for reproduction and the sexual urges which enable its success, but a more abstract and intellectual beauty. The "BEAUTY OF NATURE".

An animal will stop and survey his surroundings, sniff the air, look at flowers, rocks, majestic mountains, but his motivation is survival. They are searching for a hidden enemy, or a source of necessary food.

Man is different. He can look at a beautiful sunset or a majestic peak, or a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon, an out cropping of rocks or any one of a million gifts of Natures Bounty and beauty, and feel our Soul vibrate and soar in sync with the abundant largess which Mother Nature, and God, has provided.

Of course we have a Soul, feel it beat in rhythm with the beauty of Nature.

Humanity has always been attracted to these dramatic gifts and we create parks, and national monuments, and fight to preserve these special areas of natural beauty.

The beauty of nature does not exist exclusively on this type of macro scale. There is a unique beauty of nature that exists on a very real, yet micro scale.

A new Art Form. An original way to capture and worship that which "God has wrought." There are certain natural stones which have captured the originality and overwhelming beauty which is inherent on a macro scale by a Grand Canyon. Imagine, the dramatic originality of Nature, "one of a kind works of art”, available to enjoy and display in your home or office.


This new art form has several methodologies. The nature of the stone makes it a work of art naturally. This can be further enhanced using certain treatments, applied to the stone strategically, to enhance the effects already within it. Stone is also fast becoming a medium of choice for the innovative artist, as this material soaks up paint and gives a depth to color that isn’t achieved on traditional mediums. Sculpture is the most ancient form of stone art; however stacked sculpture is a new form that involves adding stone to a piece to achieve a desired effect.

A gift of Nature, the majesty of the Earth, to cherish and uplift your spirit, and beautify your environment. Bask in the reflective beauty of your World. Stone art provides a true Cornacopia of originality and creativity.

A great place to get inspired is the museum of stone art at http://art.pebblez.com

About the Author
Peter Lewitin is an author and artist whose works are on display at http://art.pebblez.com

Peter Lewitin is an author, a designer, and an artist. Check his website to see some of his creations of Decorative stone art

Beauty as a Sexual Object

To fall in love -- considered by some as the ultimate quest in life, and prepared by others with a constant and unending flow of fantasies, dreams, and enchanting ideas. And what we find sometimes to be so uniquely freakish of a fetish of our own, so personally vaulted and denied at every conscious inquiry -- we find, in fact, that it is a secrecy of our own sexuality and our own fantasies, that disallows us from discovering that, what we find to be deviant is actually commonplace in the minds of all individuals. There is no person whose sexual ideas are unique, no fantasy of anyone that is not based on the same roots of the fantasies of others. This is sexuality, a social and emotional facet of every human. So, it must be granted as truth, that it is the repression of sexuality in our society, that convinces us that our own sexuality is a freak, a deviancy, an intolerably disgusting and improper attitude. Despite the fact that sexuality has been an intrinsic part of the lives of the hundreds and hundreds of millions of people, or the hundreds of billions of animals, there are still some puritanical ideas of people to oppose it. And, even if sexuality weren't commonplace, one would think that the argument of "so long as none are harmed, let it be," would be enough to justify it. I think that it was not a matter of argument, but one of shame and repression, that granted the puritan-minded people to believe and preach as they do.
If, in fact, those of the puritanical ideas had no conception of sexuality, I do not believe they could have the will to rally against sex. If it is just a fact of life, nothing that personally effected them, then it would not be something they could muster so much unforgiving hate for. Alas, I do not think these puritanical ideas have done much of anything to uplift the personality of goodness or the character of charity. The idea that sex is an evil is not a friend of the ideals of kindness, intelligence, or truth. These puritanical soldiers have done nothing but bog down the structure of civilization, waging a war against our own animal nature. By seeing their own feelings of sexuality, experiencing the desires and urges, the thoughts and inhibitions, puritans find themselves villified with their own character, ashamed and mortified. I think that people manage to put anger, passion, and strong, powerful emotions into vengeance, when it is their own personal nature that they are attacking. The puritans have allowed themselves to be cruel, brutal, and absolutely cold blooded in their war against sex. As the blood running through civilization warmed, the extent to which they were allowed to fight has been limited and limited. Tortures and murders were an intrinsic part of the original Puritan culture, when it came to their attitude about punishing sex.
It is a rather popular statement, that beaty is in the eye of the beholder. Yet everyone seems to interpret this statement differently. The fact that someone or something is beuatiful is only true because there is a critic to call it that. No artwork exemplified beauty without an onlooker, no song brought forward melody without a listener, no poem created peacefulness or rage without a reader. There can be no argument to this. We find, also, that just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is ugliness in the eye of the beholder. The same artwork that was called beautiful by one may be called ugly, disgusting, or otherwise unappealing by another. It is here that the true meaning of the phrase may be captured. The only reason why something is appealing or unappealing, attractive or unattractive, is because there is a mind in the sensory organs there to judge. The ideas of what is or is not gorgeous, enchanting, homely, or wretched are all dependent upon the viewer. Then we apply these ideas to a person. One's voice is seen as glorious in tone or rancid in quality. The face and body become a considerable work of art or a defaced panting, or something in between or to a more extreme. Judging a body and a face, though, as beautiful or ugly, is a much different action than judging a painting as either beautiful or ugly.
A person, unlike a painting or a poem, is conscious, capable of emotion and happiness. All of a sudden, their physical attributes become subject to criticism and judgment. What is the purpose, though, of finding someone attractive or unattractive? The simple and obvious answer is for thepurpose of mating and procreation. Now that the reason for appeal or unappeal, in a person's beauty anyway, has been uncovered, another question remains open. If a person's outter shell can be judged as ugly or beautiful, by one person or another, and since this judgment does not help us to determine their character, should we disregard beauty and ugliness as a deterent to a person's true self?
Of those individuals who call themselves Freethinkers, artists, independent minds, lovers of intelligence and friends of liberty, it is the typical attitude that a person's emotions and way of thinking is in fact a part of their intrinsic self. There can be no greater proof of this than experience: beautiful people may be cruel and heartless, as the ugly people can be intelligent and meaningful, and vice versa. A person's beauty does not determine the way they think. It does not make them more kind or charitable, nor does it instill in them attributes of vice or cruelty. This fact, I imagine will meet with no argument from those whom have experienced the world. The Freethinkers, though, have further advanced this position, by incorporating this philosophy int their personal lives. They do not judge people on their image, and accept friendship and affection from someone regardless of theri looks, and they are not less scornful of a brutal person no matter their beauty. They have taken a rational position and they must be commended for that. In another way, some of them have incorporated their philosophy into their sexuality, either consciously or unconsciously. For example, they find someone attractive based on their ideas, their character, their way of thinking and personality. One's physical body becomes esxually arrousing once they are identified with ideas of justice and goodness. They have not warded off human sexuality, so they have much more mindfulness and personal awareness than the puritans. In some cases, a Freethinker who fell in love with someone for their ideas, after the berakup, individuals they see resembling their initial love, even if socially considered unattractive, are considered attractive by the Freethinker.
So it happens, that the phrase comes to us, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and we find that beautiful and ugly are relative terms, subjective in that they are exsiting only in the mind. Our natural response to this is that a person cannot wholly be judged by their physical, since they are conscious. they are capable of thoughts, ideas, emotions. Thus we find every Freethinker and independent individual falling in love with a personality of a person, irregardless of physical appeal.
There is one fact that must be treated, though. An individual cannot have sex with a personality. As much as the idea is desired, physical affection cannot be given to a thought, an idea, or a character. It is necessary that a body is there. Admiration of an individual and their thoughts is never so pure or heart-warming as when there is a face for that individual, by which emotions and even ideas can be expressed. The look of ease, of a person laying down at the end of a long day, or a look of interest and intrigue, fascinated by the current occurrences, or a look of boldness and strength, defending what we believe in and what we fight for. The analytical expression, unsatisfied with what we know, delving through thoughts, facts, memories, to develope a more just theory -- the expression of deep thought, it allows us a a greater admiration of the deep thought itself. Nothing can greater express sadness than a story one wished to levie by retelling, accompanied by tears.
This is just the face alone: eyes compliment diw th brows, a mouth given a tongue, and a nose, the rest covered with skin enveloping ten thousand muscle strands, all of which can combine to tell us thoughts and emotions. Anger and aggression, sadness and solemnness, pleasure and euphoria, exhaustion and rest -- all feelings by which we can purely communicate to another by the contraction or relaxation of our face muscles. The blessing of the voice adds to whatever feeling we are comunicating, even if we are not speaking actual words. In fact, the emotion or facial expression delivers is dramatically heightened and empathically understood those vocal sounds which transcend all human language, particularly when we express a sudden pain, joy, or understanding.
Then, we are to consider the rest of the body. There are few words so reassuring, as a gentle, affectionate, and understanding touch. The idea of love can be written in a million poems and a thousand essays, which help us understand it in a reflective manner, but few things are so realistically understood as love when through the physical act of it; it is so logical to believe that experience is necessary to knowledge in this situation, just as it is impossible to know the true nature of terror without going through war, or other experiences. Lips, eyelashes, and other facial features, gently caressing, touching, or nuzzling the intimate or even common parts of the body: love-making, never so real or pure as can be demonstrated through experience. Those gentle parts, the neck, the stomach, the inner arms, find themselves also to be the most intimately felt. Perhaps it is the nature of evolution: ourselves becoming most protective of our most vulnerable parts, that they can also be the most intimate parts, because we feel that we want our lovers to feel those parts which we are most aware of. The other parts, the spinal column, the inner fore arms, the hands, though we are not only protective of them, we regard them during sex as gentle and intimate.
Understand, though, that up to this point, of the necessity of a body for physical expression and physcial love, I have said nothing of beauty, spoken no words on one's complection as it is concerned to sex. I have only demonstrated the purity of expression when physical, when either in body and through the face. Yet there may be something rather unsettling, or otherwise seemingly contradictory about these thoughts. Those who have based their opinion on Freethought and independence, have argued that the physical complection, of beautiful or ugly, is not accurately indicative of a person's inner character. But, on the other hand, the body allows us the most pure and affectionate method of expressing our desires.
I suppose that it must be admitted that one's body and face is an important part of love and sexuality. Whether we find one's body to be beautiful or not, the existence of such a body is important. But, beauty can even play a positive role in this. A body may in fact be considered indefferent, perhaps somewhat ugly or holmely. But, once that body has a personality, an opinion, an ideal, a character, these things alone may be enough for us to find them attractive physically. The same can be said of a body we initially find attractive, but then we hear a rather unintelligent, thoughtless mind speak, a rather cocky personality, and an otherwise unattractive character, and we find them ugly physically. It is not always the case, but it happens to be true often. Thus, beauty, no matter what it comes from, a physical complection, is necessary to a meaningful relationship.
Before ending this dissertation, there are still some thoughts on beauty that will not rest in my heart until I have fully explained them. As I stated before, there are many people who would find it immature or thoughtless to love or deeply care about someone just by their physical complection. But, it is almost a thing of serenity, when a young boy's passions are enveloped around just the image of a girl. Granted, he may not be thoughtful in his quest, but he is listening to his desires. The thoughts and ideas that are spurning in his mind may be misguided, but they are gorgeous, wonderful, and even comforting. Fantasies may be pplayed out where just a kindly personality is placed in the boy's fictionaly apparition of her. He will feel joy when he imagines her impressed with every aspect of him, and very loving and caring of him. The same can be said of a girl and her affection for any handsome man.
With this, I end. I can only hope that I have enlightened some minds.
www.punkerslut.com
For Life,
Punkerslut
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Punkerslut (or Andy Carloff) has been writing essays and poetry on social issues which have caught his attention for several years. His website www.punkerslut.com provides a complete list of all of these writings. His life experience includes homelessness, squating in New Orleans and LA, dropping out of high school, getting expelled from college for "subversive activities," and a myriad of other revolutionary actions.

Beauty and Ecumenicism

There are many vantage points from which to find beauty. The side of the mountains overlooking Lake Louise on the grass of the hotel sipping champagne with your most cherished friend is a memory of beauty that will always overcome my consciousness. The purr of my friend and companion as he welcomed me home from a hard days work or the smile on the face of most any person who 'sees' what little part of life we can partake in to help each other. There are many beauties and no real evil. This will be dealt with in greater detail under Abraxas in the concept segment. In the whole of the 'brotherhood' there are many religions and in each one; I have found the essence of beauty expressed by wise and metaphysical or soulful people. In Islam my favorite is Sufism. They make a good point about the poison of negativity and any form of thought that does personal energized harm to other life in this quote:
“The soul who had to sympathize with the whole world was thus prepared that the drop of that poison which always produces contempt, resentment and ill feeling against another was destroyed first. So many talk about purification of the heart, and so few really know what it is. Some say to be pure means to be free from all evil thought, but there is no evil thought. Call it evil or call it devil, if there is any such thought it is the thought of bitterness against another. No one with sense and understanding would like to retain a single drop of poison in his body. And how ignorant it is on the part of man when he keeps and cherishes a bitter thought against another in his heart. If a drop of poison can cause death of the body, it is equal to a thousand deaths when the heart retains the smallest thought of bitterness." (56)
The fear of nature or one's inner uncertainties has caused many to find evil in places where beauty exists. Once one no longer has to control nature, there is no place where beauty will not be found. It may be a bittersweet beauty such as seeing your lover find a person she wants to marry; when you are an older man with all the love in the world for a person you love in every way. It may be the joy you feel when you know you aren't going to have to schlep or drudge for money in the socially structured gambit to gain material things. The fears that create the opposite of harmony and brotherhood are the 'poisons' which no true Kelt would know as he/she spoke to Alexander about their creed and their honest appreciation for the soul in everything. Nature has no evil and the crooked bristlecone pine that dormantly awaits the desert rain has lived longer than the rash fast-growing ash that sprouts quickly skyward. In the soul that knows it is immortal the idea of change is welcome and thus the warrior’s death is too.
Thus one who truly loves will let all things and thoughts go free and hope to share the beauty of 'what is'. The Cathars had great 'brothers' in the Sufis who few people in the world are ready to accept the wisdom of in that war-torn realm of misogyny we call the Middle East. In my limited appreciation for the beauty of Jesus I see him being the kind of person who learned and changed throughout each day and therefore all the time he spent on earth. Each moment is a 'Zen' opportunity for the 'greater good'. But how many of our ways of organizing social behavior really wish good for each individual? There is no beauty in more of any THING; rather beauty exists in the fullness of each and EVERY thing. Oh yes, the turn of phrases and eloquence that waxes and wanes poetic can be a joy which in the crevices of thought are beauty-full but are they really beauty when they seek to arrange MORE for the politician and his cronies or platform? Alexander is said the first to have declared himself Divine while alive. We are in truth, all Divine. It is a divine comedy to be sure, this thing we call life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
World-Mysteries.com guest 'expert'