GBE#5 Beauty is so BIG! Yes, I admire many things because they are pleasing to my eye. Or pleasing to my heart. Or pleasing to my ear. But to my MIND, BEAUTY is much deeper. It is the soul of any living thing that is not just existing, but living to spread joy. Living to find and share love. Living to make someone or something else in our shared world better.   Beauty of the soul is just there. I don't think we necessarily develop it or learn it. I think we CAN, but mostly I think it is inherent. It is built into the actual cells of our being. Goodness brings beauty every time. Kindness is the key to beauty.   One may be physically drop over, drop your pants, perfectly gorgeous and still not be a beauty. If the essence of their soul is centered on themselves or their own beauty or feelings of self-importance, beauty cannot thrive. It cannot grow. It cannot exist.   Some incredibly kind, generous, giving people are also blessed with amazingly good physical features that make them what we refer to as "beautiful on the inside as well as the outside" and I know a lot of those as do you most likely.   But I know far more normal, average looking folks who are so kind, loving, selfless and good natured that most everyone considers them the most beautiful people they know. I concur.   Have your say about beauty and I’ll enjoy reading it, but believe me, I'll never see BEAUTY as an outward attribute when standing alone.    

GBE#4 WHAT PROMPTED ME TO JOIN THIS GROUP ************************************************************************************************************** I didn't hesitate to sign up the minute I saw the offer. The Admins are experienced and I felt right at home from the get go! I've missed the blogging world. I have continued to write, but posted very few here on my blog page because I was writing most of it for my own brain dump. I shared a few articles on my page, but very few. I am really comfortable here. Really love that both members and non can click on and read my thoughts. I love having a prompt and then seeing how many different takes there will be on each one. I feel today like I have stepped back a bit into a life I loved. The blogging world gave me an anchor. I learned from reading and from others offering honest critisisms on my style, my wording...whatever. We can learn so much by reading each others work and the comments on our own work. Not to mention those who care enough to send ims with their critiques. So, I'm here because I feel like I belong here and that isn't true of many places in my life now. I still feel like a writer. I still feel it cleans my brain of rants and raves and even happy thoughts that just linger and clog my creativity. Writing releases my mind to be open and involved again. Thank you for giving us this platform again.