Anna Kournikova
Kate Moss
Courtney Cox
Penelope Cruz
Christina Ricci
Cher
Avril Lavigne
Often these pics come together with comments such as:
"Check out some more pictures of celebrities without make up at the following links. Yikes!!! No Makeup!"
"Some celebs look great without the paint! Some, well, er, um, yeah..."
'Yikes', as if it is something horrible. There is a constant focus on beauty, on looking a certain way, on creating a certain picture to be liked by others. This is the product of a world devided, a world without real care for beings as who they are, a world obsessed with money and ego. What are people really dressing up for? Money, it makes money. It is like buying peoples attraction with your looks.
The population loves these kind of pictures because it shows them that they are not "perfect" either, as what the media portrays "perfect" and what is presented in photoshopped magazine covers or by people who spend their entire day on keeping up a fit trained body and so called "perfect skin", all to fit into this ideal and have the "positive" attention from others.
It is easy to look like a celebrity, like someone in a magazine. You get make up put on, your hair done in the style that according to our culture "suits you best", maybe some photoshopping on your pictures and done.
But does this all make people happier? By constantly worrying about what others think about them, by feeling shit when people don't think good about them, and feeling good when people do? Is this really the life we want to live?
Our cultures acts as if it is bad when you have certain features that they see as "flaws", and that you have to cover up. Like: "do not wear three quarter pants when you have short legs", or "do not wear socks in sandals". Who the fuck cares. Seriously, I couldnt care less if someone weares socks in their sandals, if that is comfortable for them, go for it!
The way to stop your insecurities, and the emotional ups and downs attached to your picture presentation, is by a process of self-honesty.
By looking within yourself, to find out which thoughts trigger your emotions, make you feel insecure, bad, depressed, unworthy, not good enough etc...
And to lay out these patterns so that you see how they are programmed within you, and that they do not serve you or anyone else. And to realise that you do not have to be a slave to those thoughts! You do not have to follow them. You can breath, stop, and let them go and remain present in the moment.
And that is what I have done through and by my participating with desteni. I started to see these patterns within myself and slowely but surely take responsebility for them. Because I don't want to live like I did before. I don't want to keep judging myself and feeling bad about it. I don't want to grow old and dislike my wrinkles or my sagging body. I want to accept my body, and not punish myself because someone said that it was/is not good enough.
Because without these cultural judgements, would we even feel insecure about it?
If you look at all various beauty standards in all culture around the globe and throughout history?
The change begins with ourselves. Don't underestimate yourself.