By all means, go ahead and use cover-up or make any other change you want. And if you suffer a truly disfiguring feature and surgery can alleviate real misery, go for it. But also consider applying some UnCover.

By UnCover I mean accepting who you are and how you look . . . openly and proudly. Like Barbra Streisand who never had a nose job . . . and is all the more beautiful for her distinctive feature. Or the opposite: We’ve all seen men who look worse by combing long ungainly streaks of thin hair across their bald pate.

And then there was my Aunt Charlotte: a severely deformed hunchback dwarf with one leg six inches shorter than the other (which stood out since she was only a little over three feet tall to begin with). But she was the wisest person I knew in my childhood. Without saying a word, she taught me that simply being who you are brings out your true beauty. People would call every day and stream in to see her for her wise counsel. I learned through her that “normal” is being whatever you are. There’s no escape. No cover-up.

The point is: whatever makeovers you do, don’t forget to also be yourself. If you try to cover up whatever you don’t like about yourself – your look, your emotions, your anger – it will come out anyway, and often more distorted. Notice the people who rather than hiding their non-model-like features – a big nose, a droopy eye, a scar, whatever – display it proudly or even accentuate it. And who are all the more unique and strikingly attractive for their openness, self-confidence and inner-strength.

As I explain in my book Words Become You, the more you manifest your true self – connecting to and interacting with the world around you – the more fluent and fulfilling your life. Uncover who you are . . . and shine.

Gareth Sirotnik
Author, consultant, Buddhist monk
For more about the powers of uncovering, see WordsBecomeYou.com
Photo by Steven Lemay