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“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” ~ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
by Pete Ferguson
What defines beauty?
If you are a parent or sibling, you likely see infinite beauty in your child, parents, or siblings.
But taking away the media filter – and personal bias – what is beauty really?
Beauty shouldn’t be about changing yourself to achieve an ideal or be more socially acceptable. Real beauty, the interesting, truly pleasing kind, is about honoring the beauty within you and without you. It’s about knowing that someone else’s definition of pretty has no hold over you.
~ Golda Poretsky
Last night I made the unfortunate mistake of starting Season 3 of “Beauty and the Geek.” The premiss is very high school-ish: take the “popular” girls and match them up with the guys with no social skills. The girls are supposed to learn to get their inner geek on, and the boys gain confidence and break out their inner beauty.
Of course the twist is that you find some of the girls may have physical beauty but inside are broken, selfish, and hard to find really beautiful. And the “geeks” – once they are give some confidence and required to make an effort at talking to women – start to reveal their intelligence and inner beauty in a public way.
Facebook is a great social experiment. It allows us to see where high school and college friends ended up. It allows us a bit of a crystal ball of how things would have been if we’d married differently, taken on a different career path, or made other choices differently.
I was not able to attend my 20-Year High School Reunion because my son Miles was born at that time. But Facebook allowed me a very wonderful realization – while I was not “popular,” I choose excellent friends to hang out with.
I have no interpersonal regular interaction with anyone from high school. But they give me a “like” or quick comment when I post pictures of my children, link to this blog, or bring up important events. Twenty years later has revealed their true strengths and beauty. They are good, supportive quality people with strong family values.
In life, we need a bit of a mix of both skills – we need to connect in meaningful ways with others – and we also need to have confidence and take a chance at success. We need to connect with our inner geek, and then allow it to flourish and become something beautiful through sharing it with others.
“When you’re a beautiful person on the inside, nothing in the world can change that about you. Jealousy is the result of one’s lack of self-confidence, self-worth, and self-acceptance. The Lesson: If you can’t accept yourself, then certainly no one else will.” ~ Sasha Azevedo
All quotes from GoodReads.com
There is a force more powerful than government oppression or military might. It holds you back from success but can also push you towards great achievement. This force is You.
by Pete Ferguson
Yesterday was a large loss for many who had hoped Mitt Romney would win as President. I saw many Facebook postings about the end of the world, how our country is headed for ruin, and that the economy is never going to recover.
Certainly there will be effects – both good and bad – which trickle down from Washington that determine how much of our money stays with us and what requirements are made for providing benefits to employees for businesses along with other changes.
I wanted to see Mitt win for a variety of reasons, but my life is not going to dramatically change because of who is President of the United States. My life dramatically changes because of me.
We each have this force which drives us to excellence or ruin. It is our own self-will which determines our future.
When the alarm goes off in the morning to go to the gym or to get up and study and write, I am the one who makes the decision as to what I should do. Not Romney, not Obama. Not my wife, boss, children, or society.
The gravity which holds us bound is an extremely powerful force.
Part of becoming a better man for me is to better understand what happens in my brain in the brief time between stimulus and response.
And it is what happens during that sometimes nanosecond of time that makes me a better person, keeps me in a stagnate position, or causes me to go down dark paths.
I’ve been working to get to a different orbit for several years now and it takes a lot of work. It takes understanding what the stimuli are that lead me to action.
One of the most important concepts I have learned is the difference between my circle of influence and my circle of concern.
If I am concerned all day long about poverty throughout the world, but I fail to provide my children with food, shelter, my time and love, I am nobody.
If I am concerned about politics, but refuse to volunteer in my neighborhood, then I am nobody.
If I am concerned about the way my company is run, but then I waste time at work and do not get my job done and look for ways to go the extra mile, then I am the problem.
Change happens inside the heart, motivating the body and mind to move forward.
It doesn’t happen in Washington. It doesn’t happen on Wall Street.
It happens inside of you.
