Life is full of beautiful things, however I think our perspective on what is beautiful has become slightly skewed.  Instead of seeing the beauty within, we search for the beauty without.  We are worried about our waistlines, crows feet, wrinkles, and wardrobes.  We search for beautiful pieces of art or furniture to decorate our homes.  We try to surround ourselves with things that we think of as beautiful, which will somehow elevate our status in life, or oddly enough, our feelings of self-worth.  This, to me, is the wrong type of beauty to look for.  Beauty is not a material object, nor is it something that can be obtained, or how much you put yourself into debt for trying to improve your outer beauty.

To me, beauty is in each and every one of us.  We have souls, wisdom, compassion and empathy.  Those are beautiful.  The sound of laughter coming from smiling lips is beautiful.  Witnessing a loving glance between a couple is beautiful.  Seeing a mother and her child sitting with heads close together is downright stunning, or watching a child give their father butterfly kisses is painfully breathtaking.  Looking into the eyes of our fellow humans and seeing them for their inner strength and struggle over life's daily struggles is awe inspiring; just the shear fact that none of us have laid down and said I give up, game over, that we continue to muddle through life, is amazing.

These are just a few examples of the inner beauty that is within all of us.  It goes without saying the sheer magnitude and wondrous images that surround us in nature as well, but that kind of beauty speaks for itself, its the beauty within each of us that I seek out the most.