Are you struggling with your body image? Our Self Confidence, Concept and Personal Value are all affected by how we feel about our Body.

Television, Magazines and the Internet make it very difficult to feel okay about what you look like when you’re constantly presented images that depict people who are too thin or even digitally enhanced to mask flaws, that each and every one of us, no matter who we are, have.   It’s just unrealistic!

It’s important to love yourself for the person that you are.   I am sure all of you already know this. We are all made differently, but beautifully, in our own unique way. Sure, your beauty may differ from that of a fashion model, but you’re still beautiful!  Acceptance of this is the key to being a much happier person.

 

Self Focusing

This is much simpler than it sounds.  When you’re learning to love who you are inside and out, you first need to start changing the way you think about beauty and what you relate to it.  Simply, you need to start with your inside, where our real beauty begins.

None of us are absolutely perfect. There will always be something that you are unhappy with about yourself, but it doesn’t negate your beauty, and it’s certainly no reason to make your life unhappy over it. Shift your focus onto the things that you do like about yourself, look for the positives.

Have a little faith in humanity. If you sit and people watch in a public place, are you constantly pointing out everyone’s flaws? Chances are that you’re probably not.  We don’t judge our friends on their imperfections, so why should we judge ourselves on ours?  Perhaps too hard on ourselves.

 

You’re Uniquely You

After working on loving yourself on the inside you can then move on to the outside, learning to love it also.  Alas, today’s society has encouraged us to feel ashamed of what we look like, to the point of having all sorts of procedures and surgeries.   Don’t fall for this!  You don’t need this in order to feel good about yourself!

You can attempt to make changes if you have a problem like skin disorders or weight problems, but there are also things that you can’t change, like height or freckles. The best thing you can do is embrace yourself for the wonderful, unique individual that you are. After all, there’s no one else on this planet quite like you.

 

Make Changes in a Healthy Way

If it is your wish to make changes in your appearance, you can certainly do so, but remember you just need to be doing it for the right reasons. You might need to lose or gain weight in order to get back into a healthy weight range. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change your hair color every now and then either.  A CHANGE IS A GOOD AS A HOLIDAY!

But some people are tempted to go too far and do things like losing too much weight. They convince themselves that even a healthy weight is “overweight” and they strive to be underweight.   Being underweight is also an unhealthy place to be.

It’s important for your health to avoid these types of problems. If you’re stuck in a situation like this, you need to explore the reasons why you feel this way. You also might want to discuss your concerns with a professional.

 

Pass On a Healthy Body Image-A precious Gift

One thing you can do for the world is to help pass on a healthy body image to others. The way the media portrays beauty is grossly misconstrued, and everyone should be doing their part to promote health and beauty in its true form.

If you have children, teach them that they’re beautiful and unique, just the way they are. Children learn by example, ensure that you never put yourself down in front of them.   Try to avoid complaining about your own body because they might overhear and you might inadvertently teach them something you never intended to teach.   Young minds are very impressionable.

A healthy body image is something we can all strive toward. You’ll make yourself and others feel better by complimenting your friends and family. Everyone likes to get a compliment every now and then.

You never know you just might make someone’s day!

 

By MaryAnn Roche.

Tags: Body Image, female body image, healthy body image, healthy self esteem, inner beauty

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Body Image. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.