C is for Courage

Image credit: ilco on sxc.hu

The courage to be different. The courage to go against the grain. The courage to treat others the way they deserve to be treated, even if you're pressured to do otherwise. That's the kind of courage it can take to love from the inside out. Our culture and sometimes even people in our lives don't always make it easy. 'Cause it can mean siding with the ones everyone else is shunning. The unloved, the unchosen, the  unfabulous. And when you side with them...you can become a target too. No, this is not all sweetness and light. But for me...once I got a taste of depth, the shallow end of the pool no longer cut it.

B is for Beauty

Beauty, on Loving From the Inside Out? Yep, and I'll tell ya why. I'm on a mission to redefine what beauty means. Ask most people what they think beauty is, and they'll probably give you some version of "something that looks good, that's pleasing to the eye." And of course, our world is obsessed with physical beauty. We even have contests, euphemistically disguised as pageants, to see who the most beautiful people are. Magazines devote whole issues in some cases to show us who the most beautiful people are, not to mention the bajillion heavily-retouched, unrealistically perfect ads you have to turn past to get to the pictures of those most beautiful people. And if it's a beauty or fashion magazine, then of course all of that is surrounded by articles on how to perfect the latest beauty technique. Seems to me the message this sends, to young girls and even to still-insecure women, is: "You must change yourself to resemble as closely as possible this arbitrarily defined and impossibly narrow set of physical characteristics, or you're not beautiful." And in a culture obsessed with physical beauty, if you're not "beautiful," you're not worth anything. The havoc this wreaks on the hearts and self esteem of women breaks my heart.

But...what about Kindness, Compassion, and Selflessness? Duty, Honor, and Country? Courage, Commitment, and Sacrifice? These things are beautiful.

A mother sacrificing what she wants to do to spend time with her kids: that's beautiful. A dad spending all weekend building a treehouse for his daughter: that's beautiful. Giving back to those less fortunate. Fighting for justice in the world. The willingness to put your life on the line for your buddies and your country. These things are beautiful.

But it doesn't have to be a grand gesture to be beautiful. Being thoughtful, remembering that everyone is fighting their own battle. Looking for the beauty even when it's hard to find. Keeping a kind word at the ready. These things are also beautiful.

So...what's your favorite way to be beautiful?

A is for Acceptance

Note: This is the first in my Loving From the Inside Out Alphabet series.

Acceptance—it's really at the core of what my mission and this blog are all about: Accepting others regardless of how they appear on the outside. Accepting them instead for who they are on the inside, taking the time to get to know them before you judge them. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed that his children would "one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." With all due respect to Dr. King, I would expand that to say 'not on their appearance, period, but on the content of their character.' And even with those we encounter in passing, we can keep in mind that regardless of any "presenting" characteristic, each one we meet deserves to be treated with respect, just like we would want to be treated.

How has acceptance (or lack thereof) affected your life?

A is for Alphabet—and the A to Z Challenge

Just last night I saw a tweet with the hashtag "#atozchallenge." I had no idea what that meant, but I was curious, so I searched on the hashtag and after a few clicks, found the challenge's website. It's challenge for bloggers to create one post each to correspond to the 26 letters of the alphabet and post them on each of the 26 weekdays in April, plus the first Sunday (today). What does "corresponding to each of the 26 letters" mean? That's up to the blogger.

I've never been one for "prescribed" blogging. It has always seemed so forced to me. But as I was reading up on what the challenge was, the phrase "A is for Acceptance" popped into my head...and that quickly grew into the idea to create a "Loving From the Inside Out alphabet." And the more I thought about it, the more excited I became. So...I signed up!

You'll see what I mean by a "Loving From the Inside Out alphabet" as the posts come out. So...stay tuned!