You can’t eat beauty. It doesn’t feed you. And these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be. And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What does sustain us… what is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul. Get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty. ~ Lupita Nyong’o So often, we get caught up in how a person looks on the outside without taking a very close look at the person’s heart. I too have spent money and time to look my best on the outside, but what about the inside? What type of person am I on the inside? Do I treat others the way I would want to be treated? Am I nice to only those who have the power or resources to advance my cause? Do I place more value on the external, the physical, than I do on the things that really matter?

I am so thankful that I have found what is most important in life. I have found that what makes me smile is being there for others. It is helping to make a difference in the lives of others in both tangible and intangible ways. I love to make others smile. It makes me feel good to contribute to worthy causes. To see the smile on other’s faces because I cared enough to help in a small way is definitely worth it.

I would like to know people appreciated my outer beauty, but I want them to fall completely in love with and cherish my heart. I want to be a person that cries when my friends cry. I want to be compelled to make a positive difference in the lives of others in any way that I can. I want to make you smile and make your heart dance. I want to be the person that moves you to make a difference, to be the kind of friend that supports you, who is just as happy for you when you win as I would be for myself. My mission is to be the person that visits the sick, who restores hope to the hopeless, and who makes random acts of kindness a lifestyle.

I want to be better, to do better, and to inspire everyone I come in contact with to be a better person as well. I want my life to be a life known for deep love, impeccable character, integrity, gracefulness, kindness, and compassion. In my opinion, that is real beauty. That’s the type of beauty worth noticing and appreciating. A true love for others is stunning, appealing, and unusual. When you give not of your resources, but of yourself is when your inner beauty overshadows your outer beauty and you become beauty. That kind of beauty cannot go unnoticed for it enters a room and completely takes over. You know that someone beautiful has entered.

Question: Have you ever met someone who was not what you would consider beautiful on the outside, but once you got to know them, their heart, and their character they looked beautiful not only on the inside, but the outside as well? What happened? What characteristics did they possess? Now search yourself. Do you possess inner beauty – the kind of beauty which cannot be extinguished?