Beauty - Inner and Outer

True beauty consists of an inner and external aspect.

There is an old saying "beauty is just skin deep" but to anyone who knows a bit more about beauty and health this is not the whole truth. The true beauty that is shown by clear skin, sparkling eyes and shiny hair is made up of a healthy lifestyle, an inner confidence and only lastly by external cosmetics and creams.

The foundation of true external beauty is an inner beauty that comes not only from a good lifestyle but an inner peace and confidence that has been achieved through the ups and downs of life.

There are probably three important parts of your life that contribute towards achieving this true inner beauty.

Food

Your body is made up of the food you eat. It follows therefore that if you eat poor quality food, then your body and hence your health will also be of poor quality. In some societies the cause of all illness is considered to be food.

So if the cause is food, so the cure is food. There are many places in the world where people live long lives unencumbered with ailments such as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, dementia or heart problems. The thing they all have in common is a quiet stress free environment and good simple food.

Now it is obvious that comparing the low stress environments of these people to a western lifestyle with the continual pressure to perform whether at work or at home and the unending slavery to the clock is impossible.

It is possible however to take some of the key parts of their lifestyle and incorporate them into your life.

Good quality food, lots of vegetables, nuts and fruit, organic were possible, keeping consumption of the wrong saturated fats to a minimum or eliminating them entirely, the correct balance for your body between proteins and carbohydrates and minimising consumption of grains will all go a long way to enhancing your health. Add to this the right amount of good clean water every day and you are laying the foundations to good health and the inner beauty that every woman wants.

If you are a coffee addict, keep to a maximum of 4 cups per day and if possible drink green or black tea instead.

Mealtimes should be quiet and low stress. If you are in a disturbed state before mealtimes, have a few moments to calm down and quiet your thoughts. At the very least have a moments quiet just before eating.

Try and be aware of what is going in your mouth and linger on the tastes as you chew and swallow.

There are problems caused by eating when you are emotionally agitated or doing something else such as watching television, talking or even working on a computer. The effect of eating in this manner produces inflammatory elements in the body that reduce the benefits of the food and causes an inflammatory environment that make conditions such as heart and circulation problems, diabetes and poor or inadequate digestion more likely.

Internal inflammation is now thought to be the base cause of many of the debilitating conditions that affect people in western societies and eating food when distracted or emotionally disturbed increases this.

Sleep

One of the more critical things to good health is a good nights sleep. For many women with demanding lives, this can often be difficult, especially if there are young children in the family. If you can have a good nights sleep for most of your life, understanding there are going to be times when this is impossible due to children, the worries that come with life and the disruption caused by hormones, then you will be well ahead.

It is not a good idea to use sleep aids whether herbal or drug related. The sleep they produce is of very poor quality compared to natural sleep and the health benefits are considerably reduced.

A quiet mind when preparing for sleep is essential, so stimulating drinks just before retiring such as coffee are to be avoided. Do not watch programs on the television that excite or arouse strong emotions just before going to bed. Instead listen to soothing relaxing music whilst having a leisurely warm bath.

The benefits of good restorative and rejuvenating sleep to your health cannot be over emphasised.

Much of the damaging luggage that the previous day has heaped on you, both physical and mental, is repaired during sleep. The reward of getting a good quality nights sleep is to wake in the morning, refreshed and ready with enthusiasm for the day ahead. Have a glass of water first followed by a good healthy breakfast and this will set you up for anything that might come your way in the day.

Happiness

Lastly but certainly not least is happiness.

When we were children, happiness came almost automatically. As adults there are times when thing are going well and we are happy, but of course there are other times when things are more difficult.

Surprisingly you can choose to be happy. This may sound strange to some, but it can be done from the understanding that life is a long journey and there will be good and not so good times, but if you can keep an inner level long-term view of life, that basic inner happiness will support and enhance you forever.

If you remember the old saying that says "into each life some rain will fall" you will understand that there will be times when happiness comes a bit harder, however if you can get to the point where if you can keep an overall view of your life, this will get you over the peaks and troughs with a more even level of happiness.

When thing are tough, remember to count your blessings and keep the inner optimism that all will pass in time.

When thing are going really well, do not allow yourself to get too high or excited and think that this level of happiness will last forever and when you are going through a difficult time, remember the better times and keep that long-term view that this is just a shower and will eventually pass.

It is possible to generate an inner happiness that will outshine any short-term difficulties that come and go and give you that inner glow that will come through to the outside world and sustain you and your beauty throughout your life.

There will be occasions because of some event or circumstance when you find yourself full of negative hateful thoughts and feelings because of something that has happened or because of something someone has done to you. This negative energy is tremendously damaging to your inner happiness and of course your health as well.

The concept of forgiveness may to some be a bit old-fashioned, but it has a sound foundation.

If you have these negative feelings inside yourself and you keep that negative energy and constantly reaffirm it by going over and over the event again and again and perhaps hating the person that has hurt you, this creates a link between you and the event or person who has done the damage. It is as if you are being hurt over and over and repeatedly self-damaging yourself and your health.

Once you forgive, you break the link, stop the damage being repeated and give yourself the chance to get rid of the negative energy within you. It protects your happiness and gives you protection against future damage as you are confident that you can deal with anything in the future.

If you consciously choose to get in to the habit of forgiving whenever a bad experience comes your way, you are constantly building that inner calm and happiness which as time passes will get stronger and stronger and give you protection against the ups and downs of life.

In addition to all the advice given, a woman will still need to take care of her external appearance. There are many products here that can help with hair and skin care.