A moment can change your life!

As I look back on my life, I realize that certain decisions, certain encounters, certain meetings, and certain events were extremely determinant in my personal growth. These crucial moments profoundly changed the course of my life. A few moments to change an entire life! A few moments to change me forever! Such moments are precious and rare. They happen because of universal laws or because we have intentionally created them for ourselves. They stand at crossroads in our lives. Today or tomorrow, one of these wonderful moments may occur in my life. And I will be faced with an important decision that will mark my existence until the end of my days.

Generosity

I see very clearly the value of generosity in a world that is too often cold, rude and austere. Generosity is a soft light that shines from the hearth to light the path of others. Today, I know that I have nothing to lose by being generous. There are only winners in the game of generosity, never losers. How can I succeed if I have no interest in the success of others? How can I reap the benefits of my success while I see others experiencing hardship? How can I grow and see others fail to grow?

Today, I understand that the universe is not a one-way street. If I wan to win, I also have to support others in victory. By being generous, I give back a little of what the universe has given me and I contribute to the success of others.

Real Beauty

These are the definitions of real beauty in real time, modern times, old times, and ancient times.

We all strive for a beautiful and healthy body. This not only makes our hearts come alive but it keeps us alive and vibrant.

Unfortunately, there are some individuals who strive for beauty for reasons that not only are unhealthy but which in time actually detract from the over all attractiveness of the individual. One of the main unhealthy reasons to try and look beautiful is out of a need for attention or need for validation. Such needs usually stem from a fear of being alone and this is most often associated with low self esteem.

Using beauty to try to compensate for low self esteem is like trying to make your old broken down car attractive with a new paint job in order to get it sold when the engine no longer works. Sooner or later the truth will come out and any perceived gains will be lost. In the process there will also come a great deal of heart ache.

Attractiveness is more than skin deep. It is something that can only emerge from a fully self respecting and self confident human being. All of this can only come when an individual truly loves or esteems themselves in every way. Now many feel this is a distant and unachievable reality so they look for a quik fix from a good make over. A lot of organizations are making a lot of money feeding off of the poor self esteem of individuals.

What price do you pay when you buy into such "easy solutions" and pretend to yourself that this is the road to happiness? Well, what happens is that you go into a state of denial about what you really feel inside and then these feelings need to be kept suppressed. Where do they go then? Well, they actually go "into" your body and turn up sooner or later as some form of emotional or physical illness.

So in the end you're left with a reminder of the problem that you tried so hard to forget. The worst part about all of this is that once the illness stage emerges the tendency is again to find a quik fix in the form of some medication or drug prescribed by a physician. Most medications come with numerous side-effects. Staying on one or more long enough will cause you to likely experience some of these side-effects. The solution? Well, another medication of course, and so on.

Now if you are a young person you may think that this is all sounding a bit too pessimistic. Well my 20 years as a psychiatrist has given me enough experience to know that this is an ever recurring scenario. I'm presenting it to you here so that you will reflect carefully on your situation and make a wise and self respecting decision to take what ever feels like the truly right course for yourself.

Self esteem is something that can be improved more easily than one thinks these days, and in the right way. So I challenge you to strive for the true lasting beauty that can only emerge from a heart that is truly alive and open. It's the only way to be truly attractive!

Dr. Nick Arrizza

Beauty is not caused. It is.

Emily Dickinson

Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair; and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather; let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.

1 Peter 3:3-4

I wonder why we do not understand the concept of real beauty.