Mirror Mirror

I am considering taking a consulting job as an Image Consultant. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? I mean, that people would be willing to come to me to learn how to project a stronger more professional image? And I would be paid for it?

Amazing.

But here's the thing. Somehow image consulting is an easy thing for me to do. Like falling off a log. Like breathing. Easy. Simple Simon. Surprisingly, I have this gift (?) of being able to look at someone and know what they can do to look better. I can tell if they need a shorter skirt, a larger blouse, or cuffs on their pants. And I guess it's better to use the gift for good and not for evil, right?

I sit in amazement and watch those makeover shows, "What Not To Wear" or "Covershot" (tired of being a just a Mom? Let's make you into a supermodel. Humpf.) because to me, it seems so obvious the advice the 'professionals' give to these women. See, I believe that everyone can be beautiful given the chance. And it doesn't require going on a television show.

I look around my life; the school, the soccer field, the grocery store and always see so much beauty in the women around me. However, so often these same women are looking for something on the outside to make them feel beautiful, when most of the time, the beauty just needs to be released from within.

And maybe that's why I am good at image consulting. Because I can truly see the beauty of every woman. Listen, I can't make a client lose 10 lbs in an hour. I can't color her hair to make the gray go away. I can't give her a tummy tuck in the fitting room of Macy's. But what I can do though is to make her look good in the body she had right now. I can give her clothes that fit her. I can show her that she is beautiful, inside and out. I can make her feel confident about wearing a size 16. And somehow, women believe in me. Maybe it's because they feel that I have confidence in myself (HA!) about the way I look? Who knows? But what I do know? Every women should believe they are beautiful.

Look, I am not taking about the cover girl, skinny jeans beautiful. I am talking about the beauty radiating from within. The confidence to put your hair in a ponytail and walk out the door with a smile on your face. The confidence to feel sexy. The confidence to be beautiful. I think that society has made it difficult for most woman to feel beautiful. And sometimes we, as women, don't help matters. We feel intimidated by women who are confident, beautiful, or thin. And sometimes in order to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, we allow ourselves to think negatively about those same women. Sometimes we even say those things out loud. And that doesn't help matters, does it?

Here's the thing. I think women should compliment each other more. I think that most of the time a compliment from a woman means more than one from a man. Don't get me wrong, we love when the men compliment us, but sometimes, just sometimes, it's a little insincere. But I think that the next time you see a beautiful woman in the grocery store, juggling two kids and a gallon of milk, you should tell her. Or the woman sitting next to you at the PTA meeting. Or a stranger with good hair, a wonderful smile or beautiful skin. Tell her. I did that once when I was in a lab and a naturally beautiful woman was drawing my blood for tests. She was young, and had no make up on but she still had the most gorgeous, flawless skin that I had ever seen. As I was sitting there, I told her that she was beautiful and she was caught completely off guard. I truly thought she was going to burst into tears. She told me that she had never heard that before, which completely blew my mind. We had a nice little chat about women and beauty and I told her my theory on passing the compliments on to other women. She agreed wholeheartedly and promised to do it next time she saw a beautiful woman, because my comment to her made me feel wonderful and she certainly wanted to pass that feeling on to someone else.

Sometimes we do need a friend, a lover, or even a stranger to unleash the beauty from within. Sometimes it's a simple comment, a nod, a smile that has the power to unleash the beauty. Look, I know that there are times when we are too tired from driving our minivans and SUVs all over town to even consider the fact that we are beautiful. There are times that we think that we are too old, too fat, too gray to be beautiful. But, make no mistake. We are beautiful. Each of us. Every day.

My sister Liza (the one with the red Monopoly pieces?) told me about something the other day that made me think...She got me thinking about the negative way in which we talk to and treat ourselves. She said so often we treat ourselves so badly, but we would NEVER treat or speak to our daughters in that same way. So why do we do it? Why would we do something like that? I thought about that for a long time. Why shouldn't we be as good to ourselves as we are to our children? We would never speak negatively to them. We would never make them feel badly about their bodies. We would never doubt their inner beauty. So why do we do it to ourselves?

Why?

Hmmm.

Look, I don't know why we do it. I can't even explain why I can't see my own inner beauty while I am able to see everyone else's. But I want to see my own inner beauty. I want to see it for myself. So maybe today, I am going to look in the mirror and not see the pimples (what's up with THAT at 43 years old? Ugh.) and the few strands of gray that somehow keep returning... but maybe for today I will try and release my own inner beauty.

And then if it works? I am going to pass it on.

See you in the grocery store.