October 18, 2011

emails and epiphanies

Every day, I receive an average of 20 emails.

I know, you are jealous. I'm sooooo popular! (Cough, cough, snort). To make you even more aware of your un-popularness, let me break down my inbox.

15 spam letters from various things I've signed up for unknowingly. (Melissa & Doug, Zulily, Vera Bradley, Bobbi Brown, Jenny Phillips, Jen's Modest Clothing ... you get the picture).

4 letters from BYU Independent Study.

and 1 lonely personal letter.

You are now allowed to stop gaping. My e-mail isn't actually that spectacular, but I diligently check every message just to make sure I really don't want that children's costume that looks like Cinderella.

The other day, I received a spam letter from Jenny Phillips. Mrs. Phillips is not super annoying with daily messages, so I was curious to see what was inside.

I'm glad I did. I refocused on the important things and I made a little commitment to do better. Yay for perfection and (true) beauty!!

So without further ado, I present to you "The True Beauty Test." If you're feeling really splendid, you should read the whole quiz and ponder the questions in your head. It takes a few minutes, but like I said, it is perfect for realizing the little things that you and I could be doing better in our lives.


It's time that as women and young women we stop fretting and worrying over our physical image as taught to us by the world and start worrying about gaining true beauty! The world focuses on things that fade and will one day be gone. But the wonderful thing is, every woman and young woman reading this can achieve true beauty. I see overwhelming beauty in women with wrinkles and gray hair. I see beauty pouring from women who are not model-thin or picture perfect. So take the test to see where you are at a being truly beautiful, and then ponder and evaluate what you can do to improve your true beauty, write down some goals, and in ONE WEEK, take this test again, and you will be amazed at how possible it is to grow in beauty when you seek it in the right way. In fact, because of the chance you have to repent, progress, and change with the help of Christ's atonement, you could do a complete BEAUTY MAKE OVER rather quickly. It is more possible than you think. Give it a try!
Take the QuizOn a scale of 1-3, rate the following.
1.  ______  How positive I am? (1=I tend to focus on the negative, 2=I am positive a lot of the time, but I also focus on the negative, 3=I am positive most of the time. I look for the good in people and in life around me.)
2.  ______  How thoughtful am I? (1=I tend to be focused on myself and hardly ever do thoughtful things for others 2=I think about and do thoughtful things for others occasionally 3=Although I'm not perfect at it, I make constant efforts to try to be thoughtful of others and do thoughtful things
3.  ______  How modest am I? (1=I often wear clothes that are obviously immodest 2=I sometimes wear tight pants, or shirts that are tight or low cut. Deep in my heart I know that I sometimes try to dress to attract attention to me sensually  3=I am always modest. By the way I dress, I try really hard not to attract attention to me in a sensual way that would make others have unclean thoughts.)
4.  ______  How temperate am I in my habits? (1=I am completely out of control with my eating, or I have addictions that greatly impact my life (including eating, word of wisdom issues, Face book/social networking, TV, pornography, an overemphasize on physical image, etc.), 2=I am somewhat out of control, 3=I am not perfect, but I have a good control and good balance with my eating habits and other habits)
5.  ______  How patient am I? (1=I find myself continually losing my patience at everything, 2=I am patient with some things, but I am more easily provoked than I should be and find myself easily upset, easily frustrated, and not as patient with others and with life as I should be, 3=I am not perfect, but I am not easily provoked, not easily frustrated, and generally patient with others
6.  ______  How selfless am I? (1=I tend to be selfish 2=I am not totally selfish, but I still worry about myself and my own needs more than others, 3=I try hard to be concerned about those around me more than myself. I am constantly thinking of others and their needs.
7.  ______  How well do I groom myself? (1=I either don't groom myself well/give enough attention to my physical appearance OR I am over focused on my physical appearance and find myself thinking about it and fretting about it and spending too much money on it, 2=I do work at grooming myself well, but probably not enough OR I am a little over focused on my physical appearance and worry about it too much 3=I groom myself well, but I don't put spend extreme amounts of time, energy, and money on it.)
8.  ______  How well do I exercise? (1=never OR way more than I should, 2=occasionally, but not consistently 3=Not perfectly, but consistently.
*If you have medical conditions that don't allow you to exercise, but you would if you could, give yourself a 3!
9.  ______  How well do I study the gospel? (1=not very much 2=not consistently or deeply 3=deeply and consistently)
10.  ______  How honest am I? (1=not very honest, 2=almost always honest, but sometimes I tell white lies or exaggerate the truth, 3=I try to be strictly honest)11.  ______  How well do I pray? (1=hardly ever, 2=not consistently or sincerely/deeply day and night 3=consistently and sincerely/deeply)
12.  ______  How hard of a worker am I? (1=I am lazy and don't work as hard as I should OR I spend too much time working 2=I sometimes work hard but I don't work as hard as I should 3=I would be considered a hard worker
13.  ______  How much do I seek knowledge? (1=I don't seek to ready, study, or learn new things 2=I occasionally will seek to ready, study, and learn new things 3=I am constantly trying to seek learning, study, and learn new things and develop my talents.
Add up your total score and see where you fit? 13 means you are in real need of a true beauty makeover and 39 means you are a true beauty supermodel!
This test is not designed to make you feel bad about yourself. It is designed to help you realize the things that really matter in your life and where our focus should really be. It is also designed to help you realize that true beauty isn't determined by the smoothness of your skin, the length of your eyelashes, or how your body is proportioned. True beauty is something so different. The pursuit of worldly beauty brings frustration, unhealthiness, distraction, envy, and unhappiness. But the pursuit of true beauty will bring you fulfillment, healthiness, focus on what matters most, growth, and happiness. So even if you are not perfect in true beauty yet (none of us are), you can enjoy the process of seeking to become truly beautiful!

2 comments:

  1. I totally took the test, looks like I may need to assess things! :) I am pretty sure I am good on the grooming though, thankfully! haha

    Are you getting so excited for China?! Take lots of Pics!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. :) Grooming was one of my threes as well! Haha! We're only 9 days away from China and I am SUPER excited. I got a ton of photo apps on my iPhone and I am planning on being the American paparazzi while I'm over there.

    ReplyDelete

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