Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

You are Beautiful

                      
 
I am simply overwhelmed by the response my post brought yesterday! Certainly a cord was struck by it, a poem that a reader sent summed it up in one line:
 
"However, if there is one flaw in women, it is that they forget their worth."
 
That says what I think many of us feel…it is so easy for us to look at beautiful women in magazines, billboards, movie screens….those ads (not the women it shows,) devalues our own beauty, tarnishing the realness of beauty by flawing our view of our bodies. What is perfection? What is beauty? What is a cute little nose? Those ads show the perfection of skin and that is okay, except they deny us to feel accepted in our own skin.
 
I debated whether to show my face because I wanted to have a photo I liked of mysel and since I did not have any photo that I liked,  I realized that I had been unfaithful, rude to my life, generations over time that has made me. It is not about the nose, the double chin, the extra weight….it is about loving…like beauty and the beast, it is about accepting the beauty of who we are, and embracing the life we have been given, as worthy. Holy. Beautiful.
 
Yesterday, I shamefully took a step and said I am not content with how I look, that this shallowness provoked such overwhelming kindness…I am dumbfounded… I will NEVER look at myself in the same way! If only others could have such affirmation given…
 
Thank you for kissing this American frog and transforming her,
 
Corey

Comments

63 responses to “You are Beautiful”

  1. Anna

    Not a frog…..no! Never! A princess through and through!

    Reply
  2. Gardengirl

    Corey, you are a beautiful lady with a beautiful mind.

    Reply
  3. nel

    I agree with Anna, you were already a princess beautiful Corey, you just needed to be reminded 🙂

    Reply
  4. carolyn

    I think we all have issues with the way we look, there’s the teenage angst follwed by the fear of wrinkles followed by “Oh my God” the real thing – wrinkles, double chins, wieght gain & grey hair! But hey who cares at least we are here to experience it all, just another part of lifes rich tapestry!

    Reply
  5. Jeanne

    As I stated yesterday you are one of the most beautiful people in my life both inside and out. You are truly amazing.
    I love you so very much.
    Love Jeanne ^j^
    I love people with real hearts and real souls and you have both.
    You are a marvelous lady!
    Blessings!

    Reply
  6. patpaulk

    Corey you ooze beauty on these pages everyday. Yesterday was special!!

    Reply
  7. simple me

    Your rich words have touched my heart. Thank you for this offering.

    Reply
  8. Kristy

    How easy it is for us to see the beauty of others yet be totally oblivious to our own. xxx

    Reply
  9. blackbird

    It’s your spirit that shines through –
    wrinkles, chins, glasses…we all have them!
    (though you wouldn’t catch me posting my photo! what a horror!)

    Reply
  10. Di Overton

    My comment would have been – ‘love the skin you’re in’ but 75 comments yesterday have said it for me.
    You are a lovely lady and that shows in your face and in your words.

    Reply
  11. Penny

    Your post yesterday was very difficult for you — and I think it was marvelously brave! You see how much it made all of us think about the outer vs. the inner and the inner wins everytime!

    Reply
  12. Kit

    I’m starting to think there is a reason for my eyes starting to need reading glasses – it’s so I don’t notice all the wrinkles in the mirror – it’s all nicely in soft focus…maybe I’ll take courage from your post to go check out the mirror with the glasses on and keep in touch with my real face!

    Reply
  13. cruststation

    Self worth- remembering to love God’s creation, like a map on our faces every line and wrinkle tells of a story, the joys, the frowns. “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” -I don’t see any frogs here…

    Reply
  14. Pauline Clarke

    Ah, but it was not we who transformed you dearest Corey but you, yourself by accepting the idea that you might be beautiful, not despite your double chin, but because of it. As you say, one cannot see one’s beauty while being rude to creation…

    Reply
  15. Sheba

    Perfection is way over rated. “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens” . It’s a comforting lesson to learn, things that are on the one hand considered flaws, problems, pain and difficulty.. there in lies the source of true beauty.

    Reply
  16. susan

    Corey, quite honestly, you are one of my beautiful people I know. I mean this sincerely.
    Hugs~susan

    Reply
  17. gracie

    Did you ever see the movie “Calendar Girls” (2003) about the English 50yrs+ women posing for a calendar? If not, rent it now 🙂
    If you still haven’t come to terms with being a princess… snowsparkle and I might just have to put a pea under your mattress!

    Reply
  18. Pam Aries

    You know what…I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. You just said it all, sister!

    Reply
  19. candy

    Isn’t it amazing the power words carry? I am so thrilled that you were the recipient of so many kind words. Treasure them. Print them out and hang them on a bulletin board. Read them over and over again. I believe they are a love letter from God, just for you.

    Reply
  20. Jeanne

    “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
    Love you darling one
    Jeanne

    Reply
  21. lisa

    You were always a princess. We just wiped off the mirror. 🙂

    Reply
  22. Jill

    True beauty shines from our eyes and tumbles from our lips. Made-up models in magazines are certainly not real, and it’s a shame that they’re thrust into our minds as “ideals”. You, Corey, are quite beautiful, through and through!

    Reply
  23. stephanie s

    wow! what a great gift for the new year – both for yourself and for us… thank you a million times over.

    Reply
  24. Star

    You forget that the discerning blog reader has already seen you–when you visited Amber last summer! And see, we have loved you all the more since. I was surprised there was no photo accompanying your article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors (which was completely wonderful by the way).
    I know of what you speak though. I just received the most beautiful anniversary card detailing what my husband sees when he looks at me and it all sounded so foreign to what I see in the mirror.

    Reply
  25. Regina Clare Jane

    I can’t help but feel we are all here to help one another. You have allowed me to see beauty again in my life- and I thank you for that.
    You have done more for me than I could ever hope to re-pay- now that’s beautiful- and so are you…

    Reply
  26. sophie

    frogs – princesses –
    same thing…
    enchanting:)

    Reply
  27. MB

    I love what you say here about accepting the life we’ve been given as worthy, holy, beautiful. Thank you for having the courage to bring this out for all of us. It clearly struck a very deep chord… and what music you have made of it!

    Reply
  28. susanna

    Oh Corey, you are beautiful on the inside and the outside. Your words today brought to my mind, something I heard a while ago…I forget who said it…Oprah? Maya Angelou?… about how the parts of our bodies are gifts given to us by our ancestors. Eyes from a great aunt, hips from a great-great-great grandmother…

    Reply
  29. Britt-Arnhild

    “The beauty of my body is not measured by the size of the clothes it can fit into but by the stories that it tells. I have a belly and hips that say – we grew a child in here, and my breast say – we nourished life. My hands, with bitten nails and a writer’s callous say – we created many things”…..By Sarah in I am beautiful.
    Thanks for the posts of the last two days Corey.

    Reply
  30. amber3loves

    Oh Corey, you silly, silly woman.
    When we met last summer, I saw such a light coming from within you! Such a light shining from your beautiful eyes, and your huge smile, and your warmth just makes you much more beautiful than you know!!! You have one of the most beautiful spirits I have ever seen. I tell people about you all the time, and how lucky I felt to sit and visit with you.
    We talked about this. And I have posted about it a little…This message we are given all the freaking time about what beauty is!! Gah! No one feel safe, even supermodels feel less-than. It is so stupid. And I do it too! What the hell?
    You are so right, that we need to remember that we are creations of God!! Creations. Of. God.
    We are sacred and beautiful… And you are,too. More than you seem to know.
    I can’t wait to see you again.
    🙂

    Reply
  31. CathyC

    I’m sorry that I missed this post yesterday. Corey, you are very beautiful, and your words have reminded us readers, that we are all beautiful. It’s funny how you state that you don’t have any photos of yourself that you like, I feel the same way about my photos! But you know what? When you said something along the line that you were being rude to the generations that came before you, that had much meaning for me. I look like my mother, my father, my aunt, my grandmother, etc., and that is a great thing! So what that I’ll never make it on the cover of Vogue. I might make it on the cover of Real Life, (if there was such a thing). This American frog will now walk around with her head held a little bit higher. Thanks for this wonderful post you Gorgeous American Woman!

    Reply
  32. Casey

    I want to thank you so much for this and the earlier post. It warms my heart and gives me a new perspective. 🙂

    Reply
  33. Darlene

    I read your posts the last couple of days and pieces of a poem kept running through my head. I had thought it was written by Mya Angelou, but turns out it was by Sam Levinson and it says…
    “The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.”
    From your eyes you have show us how to find amazement in the unexpected, beauty in the every day, and peace from simple things. That makes you one of the most beautiful women I know.

    Reply
  34. ParisBreakfasts

    Dear Princess Corey,
    Corey as in the French word,
    Coeur for heart.
    And the English word,
    Core for the center of things.
    Your mom knew what she was up to when she named you Corey.
    xxx

    Reply
  35. Heather

    ParisBreakfasts said it all. I can only add that I see what I see and what I see in you is someone with true kindness and nothing can ever be more beautiful.

    Reply
  36. Sarah

    I love that quote. I myself had trouble remembering my own worth.
    As far as looks are concerned, the women in the ads do not even look like the photo in the ad. I imagine that is why models are horribly insecure. They are photographed and even though they have an eating disorder to maintain their figures, it is still not thin enough. They are Photoshopped, parts of them cut down… Their thighs made even thinner, their faces airbrushed to an inch of their lives. I can only imagine how they must feel after all of that. To be valued by society primarily for one’s looks and then to have those looks reshaped by a computer.

    Reply
  37. Sarah

    I meant to say have trouble. How wonderful if self doubt were behind me. LOL

    Reply
  38. tut-tut

    Thanks for all YOUR kind words!

    Reply
  39. constance

    Dear Corey,
    I was grateful for your post yesterday.
    I have not told you that worked as a photo stylist. What you see in a magazine photogragh represents the colaboration by many talented people to create just one photograph. A Photo stylist, makeup artists, fashion stylists, a model, a photographer. It takes many hours of shooting to create that one shot you see in an advertisment. It is mearly an illusion that has been created in one second in time. It is not realality. What attracts me to your blog is your debth, and soul. Your realness.
    It’s is a respite for me each day.

    Reply
  40. Darla

    Either in front of the camera or behind it, you shine!!!

    Reply
  41. rel

    Corey,
    82 comments so far on yesterdays post! Wow…I think we should elect you president of the blogsphere.
    It’s a tribute to the honest caring person you are.
    You look good too. 😉
    rel

    Reply
  42. Ani

    Corey, you’re Coralicious! Thank you for refreshing me about what true beauty is 🙂

    Reply
  43. naturegirl

    Quote:
    “Some people no matter how old
    never lose their beauty…they merely move it from their faces into their heart.”
    That’s the beauty I look for the one that lasts! hugs NG

    Reply
  44. Elaine

    Corey, your blog today brought tears to my eyes. You are so very, very special.

    Reply
  45. sheila

    I didn’t think you were shallow for making the observations you made yesterday. You merely voiced what we all think at one time or another, when we look into a mirror. The most beautiful people I know are not beautiful on the outside, but inside (where it counts) it is this that shines through.A good heart is to be desired over good cheek bones anyday.

    Reply
  46. Gail

    Dear sweet Corey,
    Thanks for your sharing these past two days. You are truly amazing and beautiful. I love your blog and daily sharing. I hope you keep it up, as it is an inspiration to me.
    xoxo
    Gail

    Reply
  47. miss*R

    YOU , miss Corey are beautiful – thankyou for being my friend and thankyou for being a support xox
    I am off to the beach!!! a few days beside our wonderful Australian ocean – to restore my soul – love & hugs xoxoo
    see you when I come home ox

    Reply
  48. herhimnbryn

    C aring
    O utstanding
    R emarkable
    E envigorating
    Y outhful
    = the sum of all her parts!

    Reply
  49. Mountain Mama

    If only we could see ourselves the way the Lord sees us. He sees our goodness, and to Him we are beautiful.

    Reply
  50. wendy

    Oh… this was so beautiful! And so are you : )
    Blessed Blessed New Year : ) Wendy

    Reply
  51. wendy

    Hi Again Corey, Just wanted to mention an interesting “coincidence” (ie not!)… It just hit me that the first time I posted your pictures on my blog months ago(http://thebluebirdofhappinesscomestotea.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-far-to-home.html) it was a post where at the end I posted the frog princess tale! And your pink frog was also posted there. So wow, how’s all that for a little message from above, a co-in-see-dance (God dancing with us) : )
    Blessed Beautiful New Year : ) Wendy

    Reply
  52. Veronica TM

    And you transform us with your beauty.

    Reply
  53. Acey

    This post and the one that preceded it have touched me immensely – not just in terms of what you shared but what was given back to you as a result. Now you see what bravery will earn and I hope you SMILE whenever you look in the mirror.

    Reply
  54. Marie-Noëlle

    I guess that we all
    have a mirror in the wall
    that doesn’t always refect
    the image we expect…
    a plus we neglect,
    a flaw we detect…
    Corey, mind you
    as you’ve got two!
    http://willows95988.typepad.com/photos/take_a_peek/img_2304.html
    Poor me!
    Why has the English world turned me
    into a French froggie?
    Let me see..
    I don’t like bugs,
    I cannot croak,
    Off I cannot buzz
    Cannot stregthen the stroke…
    I can swim and dive
    but cannot live in slime!
    Still, there must be a hint!
    Oh got it,I think:
    Frogs have smooth muscled legs,
    no varicous knots
    no depilatory creams,
    oh, nice dreams!
    OK, a froggie
    let me be !

    Reply
  55. Lisa(oceandreamer)

    YOU my dear Corey are the epitome of beauty – you resonate a light that can be seen all the way from France. I bask in that light and I am thankful to be covered by it from your words and friendship each and every day. (even if I haven’t commented in a while)
    Love,
    Lisa
    XOXO

    Reply
  56. my backyard

    very nice!

    Reply
  57. Catherine

    Corey – I looked at your photo and saw a woman who is real, someone who I instinctively liked.
    Thank you for posting it. In my minds eye, when I read your posts – I have an image of a strong, confident woman who is also senstive to the infinate possibilities in the world. A woman who has the magic of words at her fingertips to create images of beauty for her readers. Now I also have a face to put to that image – and you know what – those images mesh beautifully. Thank you.

    Reply
  58. Lee

    It seems to me that this ‘American frog’ (and I will only grant you use of that term if you are playing on your French connection) spends a lot of time blowing kisses out to the world.

    Reply
  59. ChaCha

    I am certainly glad I found your blog. What a wonderful person you are to all these other people, you seem to bring out the best in everyone.

    Reply
  60. sarala

    I posted a photo of myself last week and the only way I could stomach doing it was by photoshopping it to make it less recognizable.
    I have always hated photos of myself. So I can relate. But all the comments about women’s self esteem hold true.

    Reply
  61. [a}ma

    I’m glad there are people like you in the world. Seriously..
    Omg, my comments are posting again!!!!

    Reply
  62. mary ann

    i’ve always thought of you as a beautiful, inspirational person even before i saw your pics!
    & i agree, your beauty from within shines through!
    xo, mary ann

    Reply
  63. pinar

    I agree with you..
    the changes thac happen.. onto our expressions .. the flaws.. the look.. is due to so many emotions..
    we would^’t be the real ‘we’ if they didnot exist..=D

    Reply

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