Today I would love to talk about minding our bodies. Do you sometimes change clothes five times in the morning, because your unsure about what looks right on you? Are there days when you can’t find anything to wear in your closest? This problem actually occurs to me on a regular basis. I believe one of the things we need to do is to examine stereotypes that influence the perception of our bodies. Though it is quite challenging, we need to make peace with our mirrors by building self-confidence that takes away the negative thoughts which weakens our body image.
Did you know that beautiful women have the same insecurities as anyone else? There is a small connection between a woman’s attraction and her body image. However, there is a greater relation between body image and self esteem. The better your body image, the stronger your self esteem. Society’s mirror is distorted with stereotypes on how we should look. This mirror ignores personal differences. Each of us is an individual and have different bodies. But this mirror reflects just a small part of the population and makes the rest of the people feel inadequate. Many girls suffer from narcissism and spend hours in front of a mirror in pursuit of a perfect body image. A survey found out that on average a woman gazes a mirror at least 7 times a day. We need to break the bond and move beyond the looking glass. Please take time to reflect on the following questions:
1) How many times a day do you check your reflection?
2) How many mirrors do you carry around in your house, car, and purse?
3) When you look at a mirror what are you looking for? (Hair, complexion, size…?)
4) What are you expecting the mirror to tell you?
~Yes I’m pretty as I thought
~No, I’m different from yesterday
~You’re ok stop worrying
~No you’re not ok start worrying
If you look at a mirror excessively, maybe you should make your encounter with your mirror shorter. It is important to be less conscious of your appearance and less critical. Good thoughts are very enriching. We feel better about our bodies if we think better of ourselves.
November 16, 2010 at 7:28 PM
"I'm too fat. I wish I was ..."
we girls need to stop criticizing ourselves and just accept who we are. these are very helpful tips on how to cope with the peer pressure from the society to look the certain way.
November 24, 2010 at 9:19 AM
"...maybe you should make your encounter with your mirror shorter"
I should've thought of that!