Am I pretty or ugly?

Never underestimate how you view yourself versus your true physical attributes.

Everyone has heard about the pretty girl thinking she's ugly, the fat girl thinking she's been in the nerd thinking he's a jock.

Our "self-view" can take over everything we do, think, say and desire. Wrong or right, our self-image can be destructive, all on its own.

Beauty is tied to our own self-esteem just as society and the movies wants to believe. But is any of it real?

Do you have to be beautiful to have a positive self-image? Do you have to be thin to be comfortable with your own body?

As our life unfolds our views of the world around us will change. We become aware of how other people feel about us and we react to it positively or negatively. In this very subtle influence holds onto a part of us and sometimes attempts to drown us.

We have all experienced beauty in nature, we have seen sunsets and thunderstorms, we've seen green grass and we have seen grand architecture. All of these things hold the beauty in the eye of the beholder.

There is a lot of truth to the fact that a lot of us feel more ugly than pretty. Our self-confidence is not a climb up the mountain side as it is a seat on a teeter totter.

You know I'm not being dishonest when I tell you that "ugly" does creep into our lives. You know that I'm being truthful when I say that if we can hold onto those feelings of beauty that we experience once in a while then beauty will become the focus of our own self-esteem, raising us up when we need that lift.

When you ask someone to rate your appearance, and you will, be certain to ask them why they rated you so. The only truth of your beauty is what you hold inside to be true and looking for the value of yourself from others is like trying to find the endpoint of the path on an oval course, it can't be done.

Beauty surrounds you and when you learn to see it you will discover the beauty you add to your surroundings.