We’ve all been there before. The first day of warmer weather, you pull out shorts or shorter sleeves. It’s then you realize how light your skin turned over the winter, bundled up in sweaters and wool. Maybe you see a few new dimples in your arm, thighs, or butt.
Or you pull on your little black dress, only to have it fit differently.
You touch your skin and think how ugly. Upset, you slather yourself with lotion, all the while thinking negative thoughts about yourself.
This negative tape player repeats all day long as you catch your reflection in windows or mirrors, and as you make your food decisions throughout the day.
If you think you’re alone, or this is an exaggeration, just consider the statistic from Dove’s Real Beauty campaign: only 4% of women in the world consider themselves beautiful.
Use Your Mind as Powerful Tool Towards Love
The mind is a powerful tool. All those negative and self-hatred thoughts permeate your skin and soak into your cells. Take a moment and pause. Just think about how differently your mind and body would feel if you started a daily routine to love your skin.
Consider for a moment if you took the time as you washed your skin in the shower to scrub it with loving thoughts. I love my skin. I love my body. I love myself.
Or the simple act of putting on lotion after you get out of the shower. Instead of noticing new things you don’t like about yourself, focus on the love you have for yourself. I love my skin, I love the dimples, I love the color, I love the freckles, I love the moles, I love my unique body.
Repeating as you dress, lotion and put on make-up. As you go throughout your day and make your food decisions.
This spring we want to challenge you to see yourself differently.
All the non-loving places. Truly look at what you don’t want to see, and shower it with love instead of judgement.
You are your own worst critic. You are more beautiful than you think. To consider how powerfully we all need this change in mindset, take a moment to watch Dove’s Campaign on beauty perception. It is so worth the few minutes.
The majority of what you feel is mindset. The more you can counteract that with love and good thoughts, the more your body will show you signs back that it is healthy and happy.
Make Changes the Right Way
If you do seek to make changes to your body, start on the inside.
Healthy skin has nothing to do with keeping up with the creams, cosmetics or procedures. The biggest contributor to your skin’s condition is what foods are going in your body.
When you eat colorful fruits and veggies, exercise, hydrate, and get plenty of shut eye. that healthy beauty shows up naturally. You will not only benefit from increased energy, memory, mood, but your skin will retain more of its youthfulness.
Hydration not only helps with the youthfulness of skin’s appearance, but moisturizes joints, and makes you feel more full to lessen the likelihood you will over eat.
So much of it is attitude and staying healthy. Don’t allow society to influence the love you give your body, because it’s impossible to keep up. During the Renaissance, fuller bodies were considered beautiful, and fat was a sign of wealth. What is considered beautiful as a whole changes throughout time.
“Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.” -Tina Fey
The body’s beauty is ever-changing. When you see new wrinkles, or moles, or cellulite, take it as a challenge, an opportunity to shower yourself with love. Pretty difficult, radical, but life-changing.
Challenge – For the next 30 days, put these powerful tools into practice. See what changes:
- The mind is a powerful tool: Thinking affects the healing of the body. It can influence the size, healing, and more through the mind-body connection.
- Love what you eat: Find healthy, fresh, colorful foods that support your taste buds and body. Find new ways of preparing your favorite dishes, and prepare them with love and intention.
- Accept your size: Just for today, don’t obsess. Don’t hate. Just accept with love. Radical, difficult, but life-changing. Give your mind and body a rest.
- Clear motivation: Eat cleaner, hydrate, exercise, get more sleep. Practice these things with love and only love for your body. Not to change how you look for someone else. For yourself, because you love yourself.
- Love your flaws! If you put these into practice, it will make major shifts in your mind towards overall well being. Think about how your life would radically change if you saw yourself with only love.
Love the skin you’re in!
Bottom line, if you go with society, you will never reach your ideal. It’s unrealistic. And why would you want to be that anyway?
Create a list of jam out music you can dance to, place inspiring quotes up around your house in beautiful frames, read motivational poems like the one below by Maya Angelou.
Write a list of 10 things you absolutely love about yourself – 5 physical and 5 attributes. Be authentic and true to yourself when you create this list. Look at it daily, or when you’re feeling less than to help counteract the daily, negative thoughts.
And always remember:
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
-Maya Angelou
I’d love to know, how will you love your “unloveable” parts this spring? Declare your intentions!