Body Image: Cultivate Positivity
Body Image is a leading source of stress and anxiety for many people. It's been ingrained in us that we are not perfect unless we possess body measurements determined by Hollywood's standards. I don't have a six pack abdomen, I have a keg.
My mom has this refrigerator magnet that helps me keep things in perspective, it says:
"I am in shape! ROUND is a shape!" Frankly, I am tired of being told that I should meet
certain parameters.
Positive Body Image:
I am neither condoning nor berating nor accepting obesity. I do feel that many of us are beating ourselves up over what others have deemed as acceptable physical attributes. My wife Melissa always jokes that if I were a dog, I'd be an English Bull Dog. I am 5'10'' and built like a Sasquatch. But my life insurance company says I should weigh 174 pounds based on my height. My right leg weighs 174 pounds!
If you are comfortable in your own skin and happy with how you look, and more importantly, how you FEEL, then that's all that should matter when it comes to body image. In addition to pleasing society's definition of physical beauty, I feel another grave error is trying to reach a magic number on the scale. I also finally learned that calling anything a diet is a huge mistake. Rather, welcome each day as an opportunity to nourish your body with the best foods out there - there is no target date for a healthy lifestyle.
Which brings me to my point: Body Image is something we should focus on daily in a positive sense. If we begin to view our bodies as sacred temples or finely tuned high performance machines, we can begin to change our lives for the better on OUR terms.
All too often, we have made ourselves miserable and in some cases abused our bodies (eg: bulimia) for the sake of body image. What if we could use body image as a positive building block? As with many life challenges, the answer often lies in changing one's perspective.
Begin by loving your body.
Remind yourself by asking the following: How do I treat anything I love?
I encourage you to adopt this mindset. Remember, there will be setbacks but that's OK.
We are running a marathon not a sprint.
Positive Body Image:
Hypnosis Can Help!
Hypnosis won't try to convince you that your perceived imperfection is really OK, or try to talk you out of your self-degrading thoughts. If improving body image were that easy, then body dysmorphic disorder wouldn't have stolen so much of your valuable time already.
Instead, this session will calm you, giving your mind a chance to take a wider view of the situation.
Life isn't meant to be about focusing on one small part all the time. When you feel calmer about your looks (whatever your beliefs about them) then you are able to start living truly in a more balanced and fulfilling way.
Imagine a time when you are relaxed about your whole appearance, when you no longer base all your happiness on your appearance and when you can enjoy life and not have to focus so much on yourself all the time.