“We must learn that our appearance is not, ultimately, what makes us who we are as people.

Our souls make us who we are.” – Hannah Hilton

First of all, if you don’t follow Elephant Journal on Facebook, or subscribe to them via email, you are missing out. There are one to two stories daily that help me to heal, become more aware and to feel connected with so many people I will never physically meet proving that I’m not alone in how I think or feel. More than anything, I LEARN so much about love and connection. Now THAT’S enough reason to start following. I will give you a second to go do so before you get back to reading the article I will share below…

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Okay, back? It’s been awhile since I’ve shared on here and that hurts my own feelings. Writing and sharing my blog really helps me and I don’t like that I let myself get so tied up in this crazy world that I forget to heal myself. Before I started working today I read the post below and it fit right into the hole in my mind and my heart that needed to be filled. I hope you enjoy. And, remember, as the last line says, “Let’s help each other out to be grateful for all that they are, build them up, embrace their natural beauty, and ultimately we can all learn to love our mind, bodies and spirit!”

I Love my Body & I Love yours as well.

I have always wanted the complete opposite of all that makes up my own genetic makeup.

Naturally I am a curvy woman with naturally blonde wavy long hair and deep big blue eyes. But, most of my life I wanted to trade it in for dark long hair, a thin and elegant figure, and exotic dark skin and features.

And there are women who would kill to have my genes. And vice versa. An endless cyclic nature of never being happy with our own bodies.

As a whole, our society has trained us to never be comfortable or content with who we are. We are always wanting to be something we are not.

What makes us this way?

Why can we not embrace how delicately and intricately we were made?

Because in our society, we are taught that physical appearance is everything. If we don’t like how we look, then we can change it.

We can diet, we can exercise, we can have plastic surgery, dye our hair, get colored contacts, get braces, and an endless amount of makeup and clothes options to choose from.

This shows us that if we have all of these means of change, we should do just that—change ourselves.

In a world where eating disorders and body dysmorphia are at an all time high, I feel it is appropriate for us to educate each other, men and women, to love ourselves and accept ourselves for all that we are.

We must build each other up and not break each other down for being different than one another.

We need to learn acceptance of ourselves. We should be proud of our heritage for that makes us physically and mentally who we are. We should embrace the concept that we are all uniquely different from every other soul on this planet.

We must learn that our appearance is not, ultimately, what makes us who we are as people.

Our souls make us who we are.

So while we are consumed with our personal appearance and how we wish we should look, we should recognize that our looks are only a shell for the deeper, more meaningful essence that makes us us!

As we get older, our looks will fade. Our hair will gray, skin will become thin, our breasts may sag, our tummies may become more round and spherical, our eyesight and hearing may go, but our soul stays the same.

Through each journey and life lesson, our soul stays the same. We may grow and learn and become more aware throughout our life—but our soul, it is our one constant—to me, that is beautiful! Aging is beautiful! We are growing and evolving!

If we can learn to love ourselves for what we are, physically and mentally, we can learn to embrace ourselves for all that we are and others for all that they are.

So next time we catch ourselves being envious of someone for having the complete opposite of what we have, take a moment to embrace and be grateful for all that we have ourselves.

I embrace my blonde wavy unmanageable hair! I embrace my breasts that can’t find shirts or dresses to wear. I embrace my sensitive blue eyes. I embrace them all because they were given to me to make the physical essence of Hannah. All that is me. They are only a shell to the deeper corridors of my essence, but they are mine, and I shall forever be grateful!

I embrace your body, all that is physically and intricately different than mine. I embrace your shell. And ultimately, I embrace your soul for all that it is!

Let’s help each other out to be grateful for all that they are, build them up, embrace their natural beauty, and ultimately we can all learn to love our mind, bodies and spirit!

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About Hannah Hilton

Hannah Hilton is just a woman on a journey—with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair. She is melodically mellow minded with the creative curiosity of a young child. A little yin and a little yang, a nelipot who loves Mother Nature, yoga, live music, good friends, good conversation, good food, art, and a lover of laughter! Follow Hannah’s journey here or connect with her on Facebook.