Life Lesson #19: Everything is beautiful in its own time
Today’s life lesson about beauty was inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupery (author) who wrote…
“One see clearly only with the heart; anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
BTW, that quote is from Saint Exupery’s legendary children’s’ book “The Little Prince
Let’s face it, we live in a world that places undue importance on physical beauty – all too often making people feel like they are unable to meet the ‘required standards’ of what society tells us beauty is supposed to be. As a result so many people feel discouraged when they look in the mirror. That’s a shame.
But it doesn’t have to be that way – if we can change our mindset, we can change our world. In this lesson, we’ll discuss different types of beauty – and I’ll give you some important things to think about.
Beauty – What’s on the Outside Changes Over Time
I’d wager your smart enough to know that everything changes with time.
- The greatest athletes of today will become the has-beens of tomorrow,
- That beautiful actress in your favorite movie will get old and wrinkled.
- And the same goes for your looks too – they all fade away with time.
I say that not to make you sad, but just to give you some perspective – physical beauty changes with time.
It also develops at a different pace for different people. For example…
- You see that girl whose face is covered in pimples in the class next door?
- Or how about that boy who’s so awkward and gangly as he’s growing up in middle school?
- Or even the kid who doesn’t take care of his appearance and is just a mess?
In all cases you’d probably not give any of them a second glance because you don’t think they are good looking and they are likely not part of the cool kids crowd, right? Well, my friend, that would be a mistake because I can’t tell you how many times one of these ‘ugly ducklings’ in school later turns out to be gorgeous later in life.
The fact is that not everybody develops their beauty at the same time – some simply take longer than others.
You have to give people a chance to grow into their beauty but I promise you this…
Everything is beautiful in it’s own time.
For some people it’s when they are young, for others they get more beautiful with age – but all people are beautiful at some season of their life. Keep that in mind – whether you are one of the glitterati now or you’re that kid with the pimples, your season of physical beauty will come (but it will end as well).
Look Inside for Real Beauty
Lest you think I am being totally superficial, let me level set things for you – I believe Beauty (real beauty that lasts forever) is actually on the inside. One of my favorite books is the one I mentioned above called The Little Prince
“One sees clearly only with the heart, anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
Do you see the beauty of these words?
So many of us only judge people or things by what we see on the surface and we don’t take the time to look inside – even though we know it’s what’s inside that counts.
Maybe you are a person blessed with beauty on the outside – if so, that’s awesome – but the fact is that superficial beauty doesn’t last forever – everything on the outside fades away with time. Therefore it’s important for you to develop your inner beauty too – AND to take the time to see the other people’s inner beauty as well.
You know the old saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” well that’s true for people too. You can’t assume that just because someone is beautiful on the outside that they are beautiful on the inside too – and vice versa, just because someone may not look beautiful outside, doesn’t mean they are not beautiful inside – but if you never take the time to find out, you’ll never know – and that would be a shame because you’ll only be robbing yourself.
The same lesson applies for the way you look at the world.
Do you remember our life lesson about ‘changing your perspective?’ Well that lesson applies here as well: all too often we look at someone or something and if they don’t fit our narrow definition of what’s beautiful we quickly look away.
I want to challenge you to change your mindset – take the time to see the beauty in all things.
Here are some examples:
- A spider? Most people would say yuck, but what if that spider could unlock the cure for cancer that might save your grandmother – would it be beautiful to you then?
- A petrified tree? It may not look like much, but take a picture of that with your phone, turn it into a black and white print and hang it on your wall and you’ve got a work of art…
3. What about a crummy old plastic bag just floating in the wind? There’s no way that could be beautiful, right? Well, check out this clip from the movie American Beauty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB0th8vNLxo
4. What other examples can YOU think of? Share them with me please – I’d love to hear from you.
Are You Missing The Beauty of Your World
Please don’t shortchange your life and miss out on so much of the beauty of this world by not taking the time to appreciate it.
There is beauty everywhere – if you only look.
What to read next?
Did you know today’s lesson was adapted from a book Jax and I wrote called Diary of a Minecraft Dad? Read more here…
Want more Life Lessons? Try these…
https://thathelpfuldad.com/5-power-ful-tools-overcome-lifes-challenges/
https://thathelpfuldad.com/do-something-good-today-2/
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There is beauty everywhere…if you only look. This pic was taken near the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Strasbourg, France. The area is filled with tourists and not surprisingly there were numerous hawkers working hard to get people to notice them.
That Helpful Dad 