Your Imperfections Make You Beautiful

Ok. All you people with the perfect body, teeth, hair, everybody who’s absolutely perfect in every way, raise your hands. Hmm… Room got a bit quiet on that one. Let’s face it. We all have things about ourselves that we’re critical about. There’s always room to improve our physique, our image, our dental work, or our pay cheque. It’s easier for most of us, when we look in the mirror, to focus on the things we don’t accept than the things that we’re comfortable with. And we figure that others will be just as critical of us as we are of ourselves. But the truth is, it’s our imperfections that make us who we are. They make us beautiful.

Who doesn’t want to be comfortable in their own bodies? And how many of us truly are? We might believe that as soon as we get in shape, as soon as we get the raise, the better job, the next surgery, the diet that finally works, then we can feel comfortable with ourselves. And then others will accept us. But it doesn’t really work that way. The most powerful thing we can do to gain acceptance from others is to start accepting ourselves. You are beautiful. Exactly as you are. You think you’re too fat? Too skinny? Not enough here or too much there? You think your hair should be curly when it’s straight, straight when it’s curly? Blondes have more fun? Brunettes are taken more seriously? These are all just stories that we tell ourselves. And they have no more power over our lives than we give them.

Sometimes people will tell me that they can’t come for a massage until they’ve lost weight. Because they don’t feel good about themselves. The truth is that touch is healing. Receiving a massage helps you to feel better about yourself. And once you do, you have so much more energy to do other things in your life that strengthen the energy of self-acceptance and confidence. Accept yourself. Let yourself be exactly as you are, and see how beautiful you are right now.

The same goes for other ways that we feel we fall short of perfection. Many women who have experienced mastectomies deprive themselves of the beauty and healing power of touch because they feel incomplete or because they judge their own bodies. To you especially, I want to remind you to love and accept yourself. Massage can be especially healing in these cases, because it helps our esteem and self-respect to return. Naturally, just by sharing human contact.

The same goes for relationships. Who out there wants a perfect, airbrushed partner? Cookie-cutter smile, magazine body? We truly crave someone real. Someone that we can interact sincerely and authentically with. None of us is perfect, and if we look at the idea of perfection, none of us would really want to be. Our flaws make us unique, distinct, and individual. Our little imperfections make us the beautiful people we are. And the more you can accept, love, and respect yourself, the more you’ll receive acceptance, love, and respect from others. Open up—see your own beauty, and allow others to see it as well.