A Battle for True Beauty…the TAKING BACK BEAUTY Movement

Tara Starling — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:20:49 +0000

The TAKING BACK BEAUTY Movement

I recently finished filming a WWII movie, where we told the story of some very brave men and women who gave everything they had to overthrow tyranny and win back their freedom and liberty. We all know how that story ends, and that the Allied Forces eventually won the war. Today I want you to join forces with me in inciting a revolution of an entirely different sort–one that will overthrow an oppression that has created untold casualties in the hearts and minds of women all over the world. I want you to join with me in the movement to TAKE BACK BEAUTY.

In this movement, we will DEBUNK THE BEAUTY MYTH, the lies about our true beauty and worth that we have been told our entire lives by the media and society at large. Like a silent, deadly poison, the

BEAUTY MYTH had crept unhindered into the deepest corners of our beliefs, and has taught us that unless we look like the impossibly “perfect” images created by the media and marketing moguls, we are NOT beautiful, we are NOT worthy, we are somehow defective, and we will NEVER be enough.

We see the casualties of the BEAUTY MYTH all around us, everyday, and we feel the tragedy of it’s effects as they echo through the empty rooms of our broken hearts. We starve ourselves of the very food our bodies need to live. We stay in abusive, even dangerous relationships because we don’t believe that we deserve any better. We watch our entire lives slip by, never daring to live out the purpose that burns inside of us. Our deepest dreams and desires end up shipwrecked on the broken beliefs that litter the shorelines of our souls.

But there is another way.

Before every great revolution comes the moment of DECISION, when people are no longer willing to tolerate the painful cost of living under a heavy curtain of lies. That moment has come for the women of the world. It is time for us to DECIDE to DEBUNK THE BEAUTY MYTH, TAKE BACK OUR BEAUTY, and live as the STAR OF OUR OWN LIVES.

In 1848 a small but inspired group of women decided that it was no longer tolerable that they should not enjoy the same rights of citizenship as men–namely, the right to vote. It took almost 100 years, but after decades of perseverance, sacrifice, and dedication to their cause, on Election Day 1920, the women of the United States of America were permitted, for the first time, to cast their vote and make their voice heard.

Sometimes all it takes to change the world–and change it forever–is a single idea. A man named Thomas Edison had an idea that the power of electricity could somehow be harnessed with a thing called a “light bulb.” Now, with the mere flick of a switch, light floods into a darkened room. Things that were moments before lost to the darkness are found, and we can make our way with safety and ease through the space.

We have lost far too many precious things to the darkness created by the black shadows of the beauty myth. Our feelings of worth, our self-esteem, our confidence, our sense of purpose, our ability to create peace, and most importantly, unconditional love for ourselves. For me, that list of needless casualties also included a marriage to a wonderful man, my business, my health, and even my will to live. The lies that I had come to believe about my own true beauty and worth were so ugly that even though my life looked glamorous on the surface, the broken beliefs buried deep inside created ugly, broken results on the outside.

But just as a single light bulb can eradicate the darkness from an entire room, and just as a small but impassioned group of people dedicated to an inspired cause can change the course of history forever, we can band together to TAKE BACK BEAUTY. We can redefine the way society views beauty. We can change the way we as women see our own reflections. And we can demand that the companies who are in large part responsible for perpetuating the beauty myth simply change the way they market their products to the very women who keep them in business.

The Dalai Lama said, ‘The Western Woman will save the world,” and I believe that will happen in the very moment She chooses to save herself from the broken beliefs that have held captive her true greatness and power. When a women is deeply connected to her birthright of beauty, everything in her world evolves. Beautiful beliefs inspire beautiful actions. Beautiful actions create beautiful habits. And beautiful habits give rise to a beautiful world.

So imagine that world with me for a moment. Imagine a world where every woman knows her worth, and every decision she makes in her life is based on a sense of honor, love, and respect for herself. Imagine a world where women, instead of competing against one another, are naturally inclined to join ranks in created in world of greater prosperity, safety, and peace for everyone . And imagine a world where our little girls grow up knowing that they are beautiful and perfect and precious just as they are, and that anything they can imagine is theirs to create. Overnight the face of the planet will change. The lightbulb of truth will be switched on. We will find once again the precious things we had lost to the darkness, and we will walk with safety and ease along the great path of destiny laid out before us.

A call has sounded across the landscape of our collective hearts. You have probably heard it echoing in your own. It is enlisting us to a cause that will catalyze global change. One invention made darkness forever irrelevant. One decision made women’s rights in an entire country irrefutable. And we will light up the entire world as we make our voices heard.

To join the TAKING BACK BEAUTY movement, do these three simple things.

1) SIGN UP

2) SPEAK UP

3) LINK UP

SIGN UP

Sign up here to be a part of the courageous group of people who are giving Beauty its voice back. When you sign up, you will receive the TAKING BACK BEAUTY newsletter, with important information on how you can make a difference right now, where-ever you are.

SPEAK UP

When you sign up to be a part of the TAKING BACK BEAUTY movement, you will be able to write your very own BEAUTY MANIFESTO (what YOU believe to be true about Real Beauty) and upload a jpeg of it directly on our Million Manifestos Project page. Be a part of giving Beauty back it’s voice by speaking your truth and posting it for the entire world to see and read!

LINK UP

There is tremendous power in numbers. Share this message on your Facebook wall and blog, and send it directly to the 10 women you love the most. Ask them to do the same thing. Within 6 cycles of reposting and sharing this way, we will have reached over 100,000,000 (one hundred million!) people with this message! Now that is power for change.

“Election Day” is coming, and the time is close at hand when we will cast our vote, and make our voices heard. While I cannot yet reveal all the exciting details of just what that will entail, what I can tell you is this: The force of our collective hearts and the sound of our collective voices raised together in the call to TAKE BACK BEAUTY cannot be ignored.

We have the opportunity–no, the responsibility–to create a world where every woman feels beautiful, and is empowered to create a beautiful life. Join with us as we stand together united to TAKE BACK BEAUTY, and create the beautiful world we all want to live in.

SIGN UP. SPEAK OUT. LINK UP.

Starling Beauty