57 Lessons on Elegance

              When I think of elegance, I immediately think of
                                   Michelle Obama

As I become older and more mature, I am beginning to make it a habit to always look for ways to improve my character and my life!

Recently, I stumbled upon a website www.elegantwoman.org that I found to be very unique and inspiring. 


Out of her many post, one particular stood out to me...
           
                          57 Lessons on Elegance

1. Elegance first comes from inside. It comes from excellency of the heart.
2. Sophistication and elegance is not the same thing. It is possible to be both sophisticated and elegant and also sophisticated but not elegant.
3. The elegant woman does quite a fair bit of thinking, consideration from what she says, how she spends her time to how she presents herself.
4. The elegant woman loves herself and secure within herself that allows her to be generous and unselfish.
5. The elegant woman is kind.
6. The elegant woman seeks to understand herself, who she is and is not. You'll never find her following trends blindly.
7. She embraces her feminine nature.
8. She is gentle with her words.
9. She is never in a hurry.
10. She does not rush.
11. She plans and organizes herself and her life so that she'll never be in a frenzy.
12. She realizes the importance of good posture and aims to improve it.
13. She also realizes to have a good posture, one must also make effort to strengthen the core (of her body) which involves certain exercises.
14. The elegant woman values health and takes care about what she puts into her body.
15. She prizes her body and will not feed junk or let her weight get out of control.
16. She also realizes the benefits of exercise, better health, more energy, a brighter face, fights aging, self confidence and esteem.
17. She does not do what she doesn't like.
18. In the exercise arena, she finds things that she enjoys doing - e.g. cycling, going for walks, dancing, ballet, yoga, ball room dancing etc. 
19. The elegant woman finds a way to keep her home elegant which means clean and neat injected with some of her personality in decorations.
20. She realizes the harmful effects of clutter. She sets up routines that work for her, and house rules.
21. The elegant woman does not have many things. She learns to do more with less.
22. The elegant woman invests in good shoes. Good shoes affect your walk and your posture. It also affects your feelings throughout the day.
23. The elegant woman prides herself in quality. She buys the best that she can afford. She would sacrifice quantity for it.
24. Education is high in priority in her life. She seeks to educate herself in matters that interests her.
25. She lives for a greater cause than herself. She finds ways to give service to others, church, charity or a life's mission, wherever her heart finds compassion.
26. She is always polite and remembers her manners.
27. No one is born with good manners. It has to be learnt. Environment is a strong influence factor, but she knows she has the ability and responsibility to learn them.
28. The root of manners is kindness.
29. Having manners is simply the kindest way to do something.
30. Etiquette is the result of an organized way of doing things.
31. An elegant woman is like everyone else, with feelings and emotions of excitement, hurt, and even anger. She just chooses to control them and the appropriate time to express them.
32. She speaks in a calm manner whenever possible, especially when she is angry. She keeps her words to the point and as unbiased as possible.
33. She assumes the best in everyone and every situation. She gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.
34. She knows how to end a conversation and does not linger.
35. She does not talk too much.
36. She knows it is okay to not like a person. But she will treat that person politely anyway.
37. The elegant woman does not talk down to waitstaff, nor does she gush and fawn over someone 'higher up'. She treats everyone in the same polite, friendly manner.
38. The elegant woman is the first to smile when meeting someone.
39. She keeps things light and friendly at every social situation.
40. She is always impeccably groomed but keep things simple.
41. Her life is never stale, because she is always thinking about other people and her interests, hobbies and skills which she actively pursues.
42. The elegant woman is not outwardly ambitious, that is not to say that she isn't.
43. The elegant woman values someones feelings over materials.
44. She appreciates the finer things in life, and may uses the finer things like everyday things. She does not get too precious about it. She will not get upset if it breaks, because "they are just things."
45. She does not need the finer things, she has an inner happiness and a peace that makes the best of whatever situation she is in.
46. The elegant woman reads.
47. She is not afraid to say she does not know something. She realizes that it is impossible to know everything. She asks with the simplicity of a child, "So tell me more about English roses, I'll love to know."
48. She never expresses heavy opinions, such as "oh I hate cats etc.." She is always diplomatic because someone in the group might like them. She only talks about positive things and if specifically asked about cat, she'll say, 'I was never as fond of cats as I am about dogs.'
49. In conversations, she focuses on you. She seldom talks about herself.
50. She never monopolizes or hijacks a conversation.
51. She realizes having good manners is having to put up with other people's bad manners.
52. The elegant woman values 'the natural', she keeps everything about her as natural as possible and eats food that are as natural as well.
53. She keeps her life simple and is careful not to overload herself.
54. She is peaceful.
55. She finds little joys and pleasure in the everyday life.
56. She not self conscious.
57. She does not get embarrassed. If she spills her coffee, she'll just smile and brush it off and move on. If someone else spills her coffee, she makes nothing of it and moves on.

http://www.elegantwoman.org/how-to-be-elegant.html