Read the right magazines, that give you the right tips, to be the right kind of person society wants you to be. Simple right?

Well I say, “No thanks.” I say it’s time to challenge these concepts. Starting today.

What makes you feel beautiful?

Notice the key word here is not beautiful. The key word is feel. Let’s rearrange.

Beautiful! What makes you feel?

Hmm, well now here is a question!

• I feel when I love.

• I love when I feel God’s presence.

• I love when I use my talents and gifts.

• I feel the most in times of inspiration and grace.

• When my spirit is alive, I feel its beauty touching other people!

From an early age, we associate ourselves with our appearance. This face is me, this body is mine. This is who I am. The deeper a person grows spiritually, the more they move away from this toddler-like mentality. We never disconnect ourselves from our bodies, but we do begin to realize this: We are not defined simply by our bodies alone.

Before we try to become something beautiful, maybe we should get more in touch with what makes us feel, in the first place.

So, next time you look in the mirror, ask, “Hey beautiful! What makes you feel?”

If you take fear and strip it down to the core, you will find that it is an illusion.

Define it, and you will see that it actually means “the anticipation of pain”.

How absurd!

Can you believe the amount of things we do not accomplish because we anticipate that it will result in pain. Dreams, ambitions, goals. Thomas A. Edison once said,“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves!” Smart guy.

So where do we start? I am not suggesting that we go jump into oncoming traffic in a superman cape, yelling “I am fearless”. No, I am suggesting you take a little walk down memory lane and think about your past ambitions or present goals. Close your eyes for a moment and dream a little dream. Do you become paralyzed at the thought of turning it into reality? When it’s time to take action, what do you choose? Fear or imperfect action?

Nothing in life comes with guarantees and the sooner we all come to terms with that, the better off we’ll be. Taking an imperfect action with faith in one hand and pure intentions in the other is so much greater than no action.

And when we accept God into our lives, I mean really put Him in the center, that is when the miracles start happening. The things we feared dissolve. So what will you choose, faith or fear?

Have faith and live fruitfully!