Set Your Intentions

“Mirror mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of all ?”

This line from a fairy tale seems so innocuous but reading between the lines one realizes just how much importance we all pay to our appearances, in order to fall in the stereotype, to be accepted by the society at large.

How sensitive we have become to the need to be beautiful and perfect where even a scar is considered ugly. The need to be beautiful to fit in the beauty standards is causing many people to unconsciously suffer from stress and anxiety. Slowly but surely we are being conditioned to either fall in line or perish.

Now comes a need for reconditioning of the brain that you are beautiful as you are and there is no need to be sucked in this abyss from where it will be impossible to emerge. However, this reconditioning can only be done by self love. What is self love? It is a state of appreciation for oneself, where one has high regard for their own well-being and happiness, where your happiness lies in your own hands and is not handed over to anyone be it your friends, family, partner or family at large. Learn to love yourself as you are. You are second to none. One is beautiful as created by nature/universe and one needs to prioritize oneself. Being nice to oneself, not being self critical and talking to oneself with love are some of the things one should do on a regular basis to achieve self love.

So self love also means being kind, patient, gentle and compassionate to oneself so that it is easy to love yourself flaws and all. Don’t be sucked by self-doubt, heal yourself when you are broken, not depending on anyone to make you happy and last but not the least learn to find the happiness within yourself and not in anybody’s words.

Be kind to yourself at all costs and gently release all tendencies of self-sabotaging your growth and discard all notions of beauty, being comfortable in your own skin whether you conform to them or not and cherish your individuality. Liberate yourself from these shackles and choose peace over stress and unnecessary anxiety.

The way to peace is through radical acceptance that all is exactly as it should be. Now is the need to free yourself from these misplaced ideas, wounded ego and unnecessary drama or else it will result in hurt, pain, loss, rejection, humiliation and self- loathing.

Distorted guidance is preventing you from being true to yourself. Now is the time to write your own success story and stop comparisons in your life unscathed by false perceptions set by the society. Understand that the perfect faces peering at us through the tabloids, glossy magazines and billboards might be as insecure as you totally contrary to the confident face that is peering at you. So don’t try and fit in when you are meant to stand out.

Stop being led when you are meant to lead. Be your authentic self, stand tall and empower yourself. Belittling yourself comes at a very high cost. Dismiss the outer world’s response to your choices. I too allowed myself to be part of the unnecessary drama, which not only resulted in hurt, loss, rejection, low self esteem and ultimately taking a toll on my health and now I have promised myself to be my authentic self and listened to the small voice that asked me to come out of my victim mentality. For me Winnie Harlow, a model by profession is the most beautiful woman alive on this earth, who has not allowed vitiligo, skin discolouration, to become a handicap or tried to hide behind layers of makeup but has come before the world as her authentic self. I believe she is an inspiration for many people, including me. I am now concluding with lyrics from Justin Bieber’s hit song “Intentions”.

“Picture perfect, you don’t need no filter

Gorgeous, make ‘em drop-dead, you’re a killer”

Just set your intentions. I just did and I really hope you all write your own success story unscathed by false perceptions set by the society.

Bharti Pawar