I think it is time for some positive visualization to help us feel good about our bodies.
All too often, those negative thoughts can creep into our minds and get the best of us.
I love this book because it has very quick and simple tricks for boosting my body image.
![IMG_4178 IMG_4178](/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/IMG_4178_thumb.jpg)
Here is another one of my favourites that I did last night (you can click to enlarge):
![IMG_4173 IMG_4173](/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/IMG_4173_thumb1.jpg)
I love this part:
“What if someone were to tell you that some day someone will fall in love with that special spot on you?”
This visualization exercise was so fun to do!
Has anyone ever told you that they loved a part of you that you always thought was a flaw?
One that sticks out for me is my arms.
I used to hate my arms because when I was in middle school a boy I knew teased me about them and told me that they were very muscular (which I interpreted negatively). He would make comments like, ‘Holy cow look at those pipes!’ and it made me very insecure.
This comment overshadowed how I felt about my arms for YEARS.
That is, until I met Eric.
Shortly after Eric and I started dating he confessed to me that he loved my arms and he thought they were sexy. He said they are one of his favourite things about my body. I was absolutely shocked and it changed the way I viewed my arms for ever! I now see the beauty in my arms that I never saw before.
This visualization exercise is great though because it reminds us that even if we don’t have outside validation, we can find it from within.
What about you?
![Angela_Signature Angela_Signature](/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/angela-signature-thumb9.png)
oh i like that book, i’m going to hunt it down!
Aww so sweet! I love this post :)
I am also self conscious about my arms. I try so hard to improve the look of them because I know they look so skinny and weak. The other day, I had a few people comment on how “buff” my arms appeared and I can’t tell you how great that made me feel! After a year of hard-core weight lifting, it’s finally paying off!
What a great exercise! I need to do this one more often.
I used to hate my “bubble butt” and curves but my boyfriend LOVES them…and slowly, but surely, I’m starting to see them as sexy as well! They’re womanly and I’m embracing that!
Wow, I had/have the exact same ‘arm’ problem! When I was younger, a boy made the same comment and since then, I have always paid more attention to my arms. I have always thought they were too big. This is slowly fading and I can for sure say that this post helped! Thanks!
Eric is such a sweetheart. I am so happy for you two!
My entire life, people say to me, “Boy you are a BIG GIRL!” I am nearly 5’11” so yes, i am TALL you freaks, tall :) I am by no means “big”…I am a lean n mean yogi machine, check my bloggie :) Anyway when people say to my 2.5 yr old daughter who is also really tall already too, she sure is a big girl, I always cringe, correct them, and wish people would not confuse the words tall and big. For those that are tall but not big, it gives us a complex! Thanks for this post.
Thanks for the positive encouragement!
I’d always considered my large breasts as my only truly attractive feature. Everything else seemed either very ordinary or a flaw, like my little flabby tummy lump or my jiggly bottom or my broad shoulders. My current partner, however, loves all these things (and much more) about my body, and it has made me see them in a much more positive light.
I do sometimes wonder whether I’m simply replacing one set of body image standards (society’s) with another (my partner’s) but then I remember that there is much more to his love than simply seeing me as a body-object to be admired, and that I will carry these positive feelings about my body onwards even if we were to break up.
I don’t like my legs and calves, still don’t. But I didn’t like my small breasts, but I learned to accept them. I guess my boyfriend helped with that realization :D I think I still have time for my feminine features to develop, with pregnancy and everything, and they’ll look ok when I get older.
it is so trite but it took aging for me to just SHED IT ALL.
to realize that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow and I would choose to regret nothing.
and I would TOTALLY REGRET having “not lived fully” because of loathing how prominent my *nose* is on my face :)
I love being 40.
Angela – great post. Funny enough, the only part on my body I feel gross about is my stomach, and my BF loves it, I should really start listening to him and stop being so hard on myself.
Sooo positive! You really know how to make us girls feel better about ourselves.
I used to always hate my hips – very curvy! The first time a guy told me he liked them I was shocked! I have since learned to love them – they make me look like a girl :O).
Thank you for posting about the new book. I could use some inspiration right now! For a long time, I didn’t like my legs/thighs. Thought they were too chunky. But, one day, someone told me I had “runner’s legs” and I been happy with them ever since!
It amazes me that women have such a generally inaccurate view of what men want in a woman’s figure.
Time and time again, I hear guys talking most enthusiastically about the parts that give us our womanly shape: bums, bellies, breasts, hips, etc.
I think that, in the end, we fall in love with whatever our loved one looks like, so really all shapes are wonderful and desirable.
I love that my boyfriend is a regular outloud reminder for me of my woman-curves, but nothing beats telling (and beleiving!) yourself!!!