Tag: beauty

  • What kind of a society causes beautiful girls and women to feel ugly? Yet so many still chase endlessly after that ever elusive perfect image that only airbrushed models are able to achieve? What is wrong with us?

  • Amazing cloud cover just before sunset. It’s the last time I truly appreciated a beautiful sunset. It seems to have lost its charm since, and instead seems more ominous these days. That’s sad, because I really loved beautiful sunsets. Really did. 

    (I took this photo on my way back from Durban heading towards Johannesburg in December 2010. South Africa)

  • Fragile

    “I wish I could stop after looking at the facade,

    Instead of always peering at what lies beyond

    It’s that inquisitive care that I cannot subdue

    That concern for the pain that reflects in her eyes

    That draws me in to want to ease her anguish

    And leaves me ravaged when she finds her wings

    And seeks out another that only sees her facade

    So that her elaborate defences she can continue to maintain…

    Anything to protect her fragility”

  • Words often fail me when my heart is overwhelmed. It seems that only my arms could ever express my true yearning for her, and only my lips would be able to provide an indication of the passion that I feel when I think of her. She is, and always has been, from the moment I first laid eyes on her, my one and only true love. 

    She has taken me to heights of happiness and absolute enchantment that I didn’t dream existed in this world. I live for her, I ache for her, I yearn for her, and I feel incomplete without her. And despite not having any assurance that we could ever be anything more than we are now, I cannot live for anyone but her. She is my love, she is my angel, she is my all…and my everything. I live for her, I love for her. (Cynically Jaded)

  • Lilies in love…the natural arch of her body leaning unconsciously into mine, without restraint, nor with surrender, just leaning and taking comfort. Not a word need be uttered. Just a simple expression of the heart so sincere that never a word could describe. 

    This photo was taken in April 2010 at the Kruger Park Lodge in Mpumalanga, South Africa. (c) Cynically Jaded

  • Suicide of a Romantic

    What is it that stops us from affirming others while they’re alive, as opposed to waiting for their demise before singing their praises? Perhaps we’re afraid of being held accountable for our kind thoughts which denies us that ever convenient exit of ‘I knew it’ or ‘I told you so’ or ‘I should’ve known better’? Or maybe we lack the belief in our own virtues and would rather not have people peering so closely that they may see in us what we despise about ourselves?

    Maybe it’s just that we’re so afraid of being hurt, that we’ll do anything to prevent others from getting too close, so that we don’t ever give them a view of how much they mean to us? That would give them far too much power to hurt or manipulate us. So instead, we create our defenses and do it so well that we end up believing that how we present ourselves to others is all we have to offer.

    Heaven forbid we should live a romantic life. It is possible you know. To live a romantic life and still remain functional and practical about all life’s challenges. But it’s easier to fit in with the jaded crowds than to be true to ourselves, because the risk of failure is too great a source for potential embarrassment. POTENTIAL embarrassment. But the reality of the joy that we’ll experience if we lived romantically now will forever escape us because of our fear of embracing what we desire, lest it be stripped away from us in an untimely fashion.

    So we set ourselves up for heartache and failure, all the while pretending to be comforted by our superficial success in worldly endeavours, ensuring that not another living soul will ever see the romantic fool in us for fear of being mocked or ridiculed for that which is closest to our hearts. So fear drives us to suppress the romance, and embellish the facade so that it becomes the reality of our existence, when in fact it’s the reality of our deception. Sad, isn’t it?

  • Awesome!

    Drakensburg mountain range in KZN (South Africa)

    The only word that comes to mind when trying to describe the view I recently took in on a mountain pass through the Drakensburg range is what my 5 year old daughter used to describe every awe-inspiring thought, sight or experience she was exposed to. Awesome! What wasn’t so awesome was stepping back and looking at the litter strewn across the ground as a token of appreciation of the beauty that we have around us. Consumerism sucks. And it’s permeating our lives to the point where we’re totally oblivious to the massive imbalance between what we consume versus what we contribute.

    This balance is not only important to the environment, it’s ever more critical for our sense of well being. Trouble is, most of us have barely experienced a wholesome life style at all, so it’s almost impossible for us to realise that there’s so much missing to begin with. Stop for a minute. Try to notice something ordinary that’s extraordinary. Stop being so nonchalant about the beauty in the simple things in life so that you can appreciate it while you have the health and presence of mind to do so, rather than wait until you’re too old and feeble to enjoy it and you’re left staring at it from afar because your limbs just can’t carry you there anymore.

    Life is being wasted while we’re amusing ourselves with our own ingenuity. What we take for granted today, is almost always a source of intense regret tomorrow. Don’t be part of the crowd on this one. This is one time when standing out is not about your ego, or public image, but about enriching your life in simple yet profound ways.

    Quick hit list to be less jaded:

    1. Smell the coffee in the morning, don’t just drink it because you need a boost
    2. Close your eyes and absorb the relief you feel the next time an unexpected breeze brushes past your face, or blows through your hair (If you have no hair to blow through, then you need this more than ever!)
    3. Appreciate the quirks of your partner, and remember what attracted you to them, rather than growing irritable and annoyed at the fact that they don’t always get what you’re saying
    4. Smile at yourself, even laugh if you really did something stupid enough to warrant it. You don’t have to have it together all the time.
    5. Be human
    6. Be unpredictable
    7. Be original
    8. Be true to yourself
    9. Be sincere
    10. Be you, and stop trying to be someone you think others will like

    So back to appreciating the beauty around us. If you don’t appreciate it now, there’ll be hardly any left for your kids or your grand kids to appreciate later. Wouldn’t it be sad if all they have to remember the bounties of nature is well constructed computer animations or photos that their grand parents took back in the day?

    I’m sure ‘someone’ else will come along to pick up after me, huh?

    If you have no inclination to appreciate what beauty abounds in nature, at least do no harm to it so that those that follow will not be left with your tainted view of the world.