Mirror, mirror

Look in the mirror. Does the person you see match the person you feel like on the inside? How much stock do you put in appearances?
Photographers, artists, poets: show us MIRRORED.

Mirror, mirror on the wall – who is the fairest of them all? The obsession for beauty and good looks goes all the way to fairy tales of Snow White & Cinderella.

We are looking for a reflection, a confirmation from someone that we look good. This gives us that much-required ego boost to make us feel wanted, to give us a fan-following.

The cosmetic industry thrives on this fad. Cosmetics, perfumes and surgery can change the shape and features to make you look like a barbie doll or a model. Actors, models and Miss World pageants are all responsible for all the glitz and glamour of this industry.

But the sad fact is that it is not cosmetic surgery that the people of today need but an inner surgery – a reflection into our behaviour, our attitude and our values in life.

Our character, our values and beliefs and our actions are in essence the beautythat should shine forth. They project our charisma, a rare beauty, a gem that needs no polishing. When our heart is pure then we do not need a mirror to see any reflection. Our face, our gestures, our words and our actions will be synchronised with our thoughts and the world will see an integrated personality of true beauty!

Other interesting posts in this category:
1) http://imagineimmortality.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/mirror-mirror/
2) http://dpgentry.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/facing-the-mirror/
3) http://365daysofthankyou.com/2014/01/22/mirror-mirror/
4) http://jonathandumlao.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/mirror-mirror/
5) http://passionatedreaming.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/mirror-mirror-who-are-you/

Advertisement

Bed of jewels

Coral reefs and clown fish
A whole array of life forms
Adorn the sea floor
In a multitude of colours

Through my goggles
I scan the seabed
Awestruck
By their beauty divine

The turquoise waters
Embrace us as we snorkel
In the waters
Of the Tioman island

Like a mermaid decked
In myriad jewels
The patterns of wriggling life
Are etched in my mind

As I move
New images unfold
Like hidden masterpieces
On a giant canvas!

 

© copyright skm, 9th Dec 2012

 

The quest for beauty

Did you take a look at yourself in the mirror today? Did you like the look of your nose, your chin, your ears, your eyes, your eyebrows, and for guys your biceps, your abs?  Did you yearn for a Hale Berry look or did you want a body  like Sylvester Stallone?

My point is today, people are so obsessed with looks that they even resort to cosmetic surgery to change the way they look – they do surgery on their nose, chin, eyebrows, ears.. they go for silicone, collagen implants and to look trim they go for liposuction.

Cosmetic  surgeries cause chronic pain, allergy, blindness and even death.  And people are still willing  to take such risks.

A case in point is Michael Jackson.  There is a world of difference in how  he looked like in 1977 and how he looked years later in 2006. Recently, a 22 year girl from Russia  had 100 silicone injections because she wanted the worlds biggest lips in the hope of resembling her favourite heroine Jessica Rabbit. And in Singapore,on Dec 30^th, 2009 Franklin Heng, property management tycoon died due to multiple holes in his intestines and stomach in a liposuction surgery gone wrong .

All of us are born, attain youth, old age and eventually we have to die.  There is no eternal youth whatsoever and ageing is a natural process.  So, why are we trying to create a mask and hide what we truly are?.

We are born with flaws and each of us has our own unique looks, strange mannerisms and behaviours.  That is what makes us stand out from the crowd.  That is the beauty in us.  So, let us celebrate our imperfections.  Let us seek to be imperfectly perfect.

Cosmetic surgery does not make you a different person.  Very often our external appearance is more a reflection of how we feel.  And if you feel great inside you will natural exude a radiant charm.

Cosmetic surgery distorts appearances that we are born with.  It enables us to alter the bodies and come up with something different.

Magazines, music videos and television are also responsible for creating this disgusting obsession with beauty and perfection.  We have slimming advertisements and beauty pageants.  Cosmetically enhanced celebrities are redefining the concepts of beauty and fans are blindly aping them.

Beauty is not skin deep.  I think that putting on those layers of makeup do not make you a beautiful person – although many of you ladies may disagree to that.

After seeing the dangerous results of cosmetic surgery, some Hollywood stars like Kate Winslet and Emma Thomson are now crusading against cosmetic surgery.

Now then what do I consider as true beauty.  It is the beauty in people like Mother Theresa who served selflessly and tirelessly. She was small in stature but rocklike in faith. She started orphanages, schools, hospices and homes.  Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor and destitute in Calcutta won her the Nobel Peace Prize.

Let us find that beauty in the values that we hold, in the work that we do.  The glow in you when you touch someones heart – when you make a change in someones life is true beauty that is everlasing, that is forever.  So, I urge you to find a cause be it only once a month or once in 3 months or atleast once a year  to do something for which you expect nothing in return – not a cent.  Just go and spend some time to plant a community garden, help children at reading, help at an old age home or with the intellectually disabled.  We have to stop always thinkiing from the selfish confines of only our family to include our neighbours, our community and the world at large  We can sow small seeds of change by pitching ourselves for such a higher cause .

Volunteering connects you to others.  It helps you to make new friends and increase your relationship skills.   It can bring fun and fulfilment to your life.  It increases your self-confidence, fights depression and helps you stay physically healthy.

I think the need of the hour is to take a good look within – to do an inner surgery – to find that peace, that happiness, that beauty that we were born with and is always within us. True beauty is that invisible essence that binds all of us in a universal chain of brotherhood.  True beauty is your inner nature and does not require any makeup.

Silhouette

Serene and sensuous
Hands folded in prayer
Shiny tresses of hair
Her silhouette
Glows in the light
Her eyes closed
A  picture of equipoise
Transfixed he stands
Stunned by her beauty
Is it an illusion –
Or a fleeting dream?

© copyright skm, 17th Oct 2011

True beauty

( http://promisingpoetscafe.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/the-perfect-poet-award-for-week-49/)

A pure mind
Discerning and dissecting
Living in a world of forms and shapes
Still revels in the true essence
Beauty in truth

When beyond mere looks
Your presence enlivens
Brings meaning to my life
A feeling  unexplained
Beauty in love

A child at play
Looking, touching, querying
Lost
In wonder
Beauty in innocence

The artist looks at his canvas
And it becomes his world
Everything else turns to nought
A flourish of colours and strokes
Lost in creation
Beauty in work

This universe infinite
Defying all imagination
All we can do is surrender
In awe, In admiration
Praying for inspiration
Beauty in devotion

© copyright skm, 21st May, 2011