The Hidden Beauty Within

This post is part of The Beauty of a Woman BlogFest VII (2018)!

         

 To read more entries, and potentially win a fun prize, visit the fest page at: http://www.augustmclaughlin.com/beauty-woman-blogfest-vii/ – on August’s McLaughlin’s site between today and 11pm PST March 9th.

                                             

The use of a flower in reference to -or- as a gift to a woman, is not to say we are fragile creatures, in need of careful coddling.  Most of the seemingly most fragile life-forms that exist are in-fact, the strongest, most tenacious spirits.  They must be to survive the conditions of their habitat.  That is a gift I would like to give all women. – MTC

 

When August asked me to participate in this year’s The Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, two things happened.  First, I was deeply honored, of course.  Then the big IT struck me … what in the world would I write about?!  I’m all nervous right now just thinking about it.

It isn’t like writing about women is something new for me.  I write about women every single day, but they are my characters in my novels or screenplays.  Writing about women … nonfiction … for the blogfest – that is a whole different thing.  Talk about a fish out of water – it feels so different.  It isn’t like I’m shy in writing about women either.  Hardly.  I love women … and then some.  I am a lesbian who adores the opportunity to include love scenes in my manuscripts.  Again, that different element deal.

I love and deeply admire so many women…and often on very complicated levels.  The actresses whom I “cast” as my various characters, from a certain British star with fabulous legs that last forever to an American whose eyes slay me every time her picture pops up in my notifications.  Actresses, musicians and other stars are not the only women who capture my attention. 

The very singular woman in my life I am deeply in love with is certainly no movie star; just the thought of it would be repulsive to her.  That does not alter her beauty to me in the slightest.  One of my favorite pictures of her, is a close-up of her bare feet stretched out on a mossy log.  Yes, she is an attractive woman, but the absolute most beautiful part of her is what lies inside her.  That is a truth that (to me) carries through with every woman on the planet.  You can have someone that defies world “standards” of beauty, but if all those lovely inside things that make up the true essence of a person don’t outshine the external, physical appearance…if she is empty or other negative possibilities, then there is nothing. 

As August and many of the previous blogfest participants have said, it doesn’t matter if a woman is tall or short.  Thin or extra curvy.  Athletic, a warrior -or- physically-challenged.  Think of a million differences that can be paired up … it doesn’t matter.

One of the most beautiful women I have ever had the privilege to see or meet was at a Native American powwow.  At this particular powwow I was not there as a vendor or a participant.  I was there to record a segment for my (then) radio show.  Much to my shame, I had dismissed her as being worth interviewing, when I first saw her arrive at the powwow.  Her legs were noticeably crippled as she moved past me in her electric wheelchair, intent on a mission.  It wasn’t until an hour later when I returned to the dance arena, that my jaw dropped.  Her inner beauty shined and dazzled brighter than the noon sun beating down on her and the other dancers.  Yes, you read that correctly.  She was one of the dancers, in her electric wheelchair, emanating a glorious soul!  It was an experience you had to see for yourself.

Recently I read an article about a young woman with Downs Syndrome who has thrown the modeling world on it’s ear, totally redefining (for what is arguably the most stinted profession in the world) the essence of beauty.  Now a world-famous model, she has also developed her own clothing line … she has totally redefined what society thinks someone with DS should be.  Who knows what else lies ahead for this bold entrepreneur. 

One more example I’d like to include of beauty where the average person would never expect to find it, is a woman whose job once was to kill people.  She was a federal police officer in South Africa, a sniper in an elite task force (the real-life basis of one of my characters).  She had to be without emotion and capable of calculating so many things in a moment’s notice, ready to take a kill shot the moment it was available, even if the dangerous criminal was a child.  Many people were afraid of her from that basis alone.  Few stopped to consider she was a single woman, hired as a police officer and doing the job she was trained to do…the way she made a living, while also serving her country.  Even fewer people know she agonized over every life she had to take in the line of duty -or- that this bad ass cop went home every day to a bed full of cuddly stuffed animals.

That inner quality that marks the true, hidden beauty within a woman is pointed out, in an amazing way by the singer P!nk, in her new song Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. 

That to me is the best mark of The Beauty of a Woman … that inner essence which is as unique to the individual as fingerprints or a retina scan.  Never try to hide that.  Let your essence out to glow, shine and show your true beauty!