Admire someone else's beauty, without questioning your own.
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My mother tends to get annoyed whenever I compliment someone else on their looks, or talk (positively) about how someone looks. In her opinion, looks are shallow and if I appreciate someone else's beauty then I must be terribly insecure. And if anyone is okay with how they are formed, then that is vanity and they should humble themselves. In a way, I agree that people can be shallow or vain and that everyone should humble themselves. But no one should be ashamed for looking one way or the other. We each have features which can be appreciated--we all have something. Many of us cannot see our own worth, but we all have worth and we all precious.
But besides appearance, this quote can be applied to anything. Talent, for example. As a writer, I tend to read other writers' works and I become discouraged. I feel that they are literary geniuses, and that everything I write is trash. It doesn't matter how many people argue with me and praise me for my writing--I am going to feel the way I feel. Nice comments always help, but real change comes from me. I have to become confident on my own, I can't be dependent on someone else to validate me--that is not confidence.
We can all improve in everything we do--but there are exceptions for what we cannot change. There is a prayer that comes to mind (and you might not be religious, so if you aren't then just alter the quote to fit your own ideals)...."God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Whether you believe in God or not, we should all gain the serenity, and the courage, and the wisdom.
