How do I know what makes me beautiful?
The truth is I am beauty.
A critical voice in my head once thought
That I was beautiful because of my body.
That I was beautiful because of my perfection.
It counseled me on all things beauty.
It helped me analyze my days so that
I could fix the flaws in
My body, my personality, and myself.
So that I could be perfect.
On my journey to perfection I asked to hear a loving voice.
The voice told me that I was beautiful
From the very beginning.
That I was beautiful before I decided to be perfect.
Before I started all and any of my journeys
I was beautiful
From the beginning.
A funny thing happened tonight
As I sat with my beautiful self.
I saw memories of my journey to perfection.
In the memories I seeked to make myself beautiful.
To fix my flaws and become perfect.
But then I saw a glimpse of my innate beauty,
And I asked the critical voice,
“How do you know what makes me beautiful?”
But before it could answer, the Loving voice,
With compassion and understanding, said,
“You are beauty.”
And it occurred to me in that moment
That the critical voice
Saw beauty as perfection.
But the truth is that,
And the Loving voice confirms,
I myself am beauty.
And that has been true
Since the very beginning;
Beauty is not attained.
Nor is it perfection.
Beauty is innate.
It is spiritual.
It is knowledge and life.