Kahlil Gibran once said, “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart”, and if it had not been for S.O.U.L., this would never truly impacted me the way it has today.

When I thought of beauty growing up, I thought of Barbie, MTV, Disney channel, and movie stars. So let’s just say I didn’t exactly have a sense of self-worth or self-love for that matter. I just knew that to fit in you had to be like what you saw on TV. To have friends you had to know what was “cool” and what wasn’t.

I went all through middle school and high school thinking this way. I went on believing that beauty was somewhere outside of me, that beauty was something I could apply, something I could buy, something that could be fixed with plastic surgeons, loads of money, approval from parents, family members, teachers, coaches and friends.

These high expectations and beliefs of myself began to change as I started doing some personal growth work. Personal growth for me got real personal after attending a Mastering Your Life Intensive. During that intensive, through the love and support from fellow attendees and Esperanza Universal, I began to have a better understanding of the inner beauty Kahlil was really talking about.

I finally understood why beauty wasn’t something I could buy or learn.

It’s because beauty wasn’t a something, it was a someone – that someone being me. I learned that I am beautiful without needing to follow, conform or bend to anyone else’s desires. I am the beauty that I’ve been searching for; I’ve been looking for it outside of me all this time. It’s as if I had been waiting this whole time for the approval from everyone I knew to tell me what I now know. Realizing this sense of inner beauty helped me to see that I don’t need outside approval to be who I am or to follow my dreams.

I’m in college now, and knowing that I have this sense of inner beauty has helped me to have continual confidence in myself. I have a sense of self- love and acceptance I have never had before. This sense of confidence has helped my transition to college easier than I thought it would be.

I’m glad that I learned what I did from the Mastering Your Life Intensive. I could have never discovered this inner beauty without the help of Esperanza and everyone at the Mastering Your Life Intensive. To harness the shining light beyond your own mirror, I highly recommend the life-changing Mastering Your Life Intensive.

Read more at www.masteringyourlife.com .

Hillary
Freshman in College
photo credit: brenna.levitin