The Beauty in the Beast

Happiness across the cultures.

by Jaime Cundy

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

Music ties us to the best vision of our future. It allows us to listen, to understand, and to be moved. Music can act as an emotional release. It doesn’t just tell the story of the best version of ourselves...it pulls us there. Read More

To Be or Not To Be... A "Slut" That Is

Perhaps I have had the wrong role models in my life. Apparently I have been looking up to what Rush Limbaugh would call massive sluts... How am I going to tell my parents that instead of the woman they thought they had raised... I have become a slut? Read More

Let's Talk About Sex

To listen to Rick Santorum’s version of what would happen if Americans were granted affordable access to contraception you would think that America would become some seedy sex-den previously only available in the red-light district of Amsterdam or an obscure Korean horror movie. Read More

Am I worthy? Lesson 1 in Vulnerability

When you finally allow people to see who you are they may reject you and you can't protect your ego by saying that they didn't really know you. That thought alone terrifies me. Read More

Impatience and Unhappiness

We've all heard that terrible old cliché 'Patience is a virtue'. I, for one, learned to hate patience at an early age. Patience to me was like having to eat all of your broccoli before you could have your dessert. Read More

Anti-Slackivism

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness" - Chinese Proverb Read More

Lest We Forget

Five years ago I was self-righteous and ill-informed. I would loudly criticize the war (it didn't matter what war...they were all the same to me), and I would question the reason why anyone would choose to join the military. I was always polite about it, so as not to cross any 'politically-correct' line... Read More

The Mystery of the Veil

We must stand beside women that are struggling against oppression and offer them support and a hand up… not a fine and ‘reeducation classes’. We can do better than this for women. We MUST do better than this for us all. Read More

An African Like Me?

It is that final sentence that really struck me "All I had heard about them is how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor". It was that realization that was so hard to come to grips with while I was living in South Africa. Read More

What Is the 'Secret' to Happiness?

There is wisdom in youth, and in his own celebration this little boy shows us what the true 'secret' to happiness is. Read More

The Goal of Hope

"He's got high hope's, yes he's got high apple pie in the sky hopes..."

- Frank Sinatra Read More

The Happiness Within

The Cullinan diamond is the world's largest diamond. Frederick Wells, a surface manager for the Premier Diamond Mining Company, found the diamond on January 26, 1905 in South Africa. There is no argument that the diamond had been residing in South Africa for thousands of years, until being uncovered by Wells. Read More

This Is Me

It's scary to be yourself. It is absolutely terrifying. You definitely risk big when you decided to put your true self out there on display. The good news is that the payoffs are worth all the risk. Read More

Unity, Perseverance, and Freedom

One of the caveats to freedom is that it comes with great responsibility. Nelson Mandela spoke of that responsibility. We are free, and it is our responsibility to live in a way that enhances the freedom of others. If we don't I am left to ask...are WE ready for freedom?

The responses that I received from a Thundercat, Sebastian (from the little mermaid), and Daffy Duck, all indicated that they felt they were part of an awareness raising campaign. Read More

thanks-GIVING

Dear Africa, you helped me write thisBy showing me to give is priceless- K'naan Read More

Waiting for Happiness

Everyday I hear people tell me about how they would be happy ‘if'...

If they win the lottery, if they find the lover or partner of their dreams, if the moon was 3 degrees further to the left each evening.

Why do we all seem to be waiting for happiness?

To listen to and understand a cultures music is to understand the soul of a culture. There is little argument that music is a source of comfort, joy and inspiration in most people's lives. It is rare to come across anyone that HATES music. While there may be a huge debate about what constitutes ‘good' music, the truth is that music is unique in its universality. Read More

Jaime Cundy is a writer and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program.

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About The Beauty in the Beast

I started writing Beauty in the Beast because i believe that there is beauty to be found in even the most dire of circumstances. I was inspired by the sight of a beautiful sunflower growing proudly out of a sewer!