WHAT IS BEYOUTY?

In the early 90's the word "BeYouTy" came to me.  Today, I guess I would say this phonetic play on words is characteristic of my personal, God-given, style of writing.  It probably began when God revealed to me the name of my business, "New Bein", which is a double entendre' reflecting the ancient, royal, beautiful and glorious people called Nubians.  I began to pay attention to the roots and components of words and explored within my mind the original essence and intent of words.  

BeYouTy is obviously a double entendre' on the word Beauty.  What resonated within my Spirit was the "You" principle.  Based on all of my personal  life experience and my professional experience as a Social Worker for over 15 years, I realized that real Beauty, as I knew it, was based on something much deeper and more complex than the superficial, commercial, ordinary Beauty that I learned within this American / European context.  My experience as a Social Worker taught me two very important aspects of our personal development as human beings.  The pillars of our humanity / being  (human beings) is our "Self-Identity" and our "Self-Esteem."  As I reflected on the women in my life that  I considered beautiful, whether it was my Grandmother or an actress like Cleopatra Jones (Vonetta McGee), there was something beyond their physical beauty that you could sense. Take note that  I didn't say, something that you could see, because the beauty that I perceived was beyond sight.  As I have studied Beauty from other cultural contexts my lens of beauty widened. Other cultural references to Beauty spoke of "radiant beauty" "timeless beauty" "transcendent beauty"  and most importantly "inner beauty".  I saw the connection between real beauty and self-identity.  Real beauty has to do with the constitution of who you are?  Your "being".  Its foundation is first and foremost a strong sense of self, confidence if you will, and a strong, positive, healthy self-esteem.  It is based on your character (good, bad or ugly), your speaking i.e. the beauty, power and love in the way you communicate to people.  It is in your presence, how you make others feel around you and what energy shows up when you show up.  It's in your sense of respect, pride and  dignity.  It's in your carriage.  A lot of younger women may not know about this, but my grandmothers and mother always stressed the importance of how you carried yourself.  This dealt with how you dressed, how you sat, how you walked, how you interacted with the world.  The  European word for it this might be your social etiquette, but in black culture, it meant much more.  Quite important in this thing called Beauty, I would say is your Spirituality, your Godliness or Goddessness, which comes like a light from your being.  Quite naturally, this Spirituality at its most basic level would be reflected in how you treat others.

I know what Beauty is not.  It is not what one might call: cute, fly, sexy, glamorous, pretty, attractive, good-looking or any other superficial or frivolous description.  It is not TV Beauty  or even  Celebrity Beauty.  Real Real beauty comes from the inside / out.  BeYouTy comes from a whole and  extraordinary tapestry of inner qualities that speak purely and powerfully.  It's a Soul Beauty.  Things like clothes, jewelry, make-up, sexiness, your body (your shape) and such , don't equal or even rival real BeYouty.  They are merely accessories.  Real BeYouTy comes from the essence of your being, from the foundation of You.  Whatever your BeYouTy is....it is fabulous!  Trust and believe!

Lovingly I Am....Your BeYouTy Queen... Nekhena