In our society we are constantly bombarded with images of perfect men and women with fast cars, perfect homes who never seem to age. The obsession in our culture with appearance is a multi-billion dollar industry with marketing geared toward keeping sales of diet and beauty products soaring. We become preoccupied with looking like the models we see in the media and lose sight of what is really important in our lives.
Of course we should all strive to be healthy, and feeling good about looking healthy is important to long-term health care. But when we obsess about how we look on the outside, we lose sight of what is inside of us.
In other cultures standards of looks and appearance are very different, and yet we never stop to question whether we even want to live up to the images that bombard us every day from magazines, television and newspapers. We spend our money, energy and time in pursuit of an impossible image that we can never attain or hold.
Instead, ask your self what motivates you? What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? How can you make an impact in the world, society, politics, the environment? Ask yourself:
- What was the first thing you ever wanted to do in your life?
- What drives you now?
- What would you like to be remembered for long after you are gone?
Then ask yourself if you are spending your time in line with your goals. Do you do what is really important to you or do you chase an impossible dream of perfect appearance? As you reexamine the ways in which you think about yourself, consider letting beauty and health shine from the inside out. Spiritual Fitness is a guidebook for living your life from the inside out that can assist you in becoming who you are truly meant to be, not just who you are told you should be from society.