10 steps to Body Positivity

Your body needs as much kindness as anything else.

Cherish your body. It is yours this one time only.

You are beautiful just as you are.

What is beauty? Something that pleases our sight? Something that moves us. If so, isn’t it in the eye of the beholder, where everyone’s taste is different, just like taste in art? Or is beauty really something most simpler, and beautiful?

Beauty is not a size, shape or color.

Perhaps beauty is really just happiness. A moment when you feel free and real and alive. Maybe beauty is the wind in your messy hair, sand in your chipped manicured toes, a sweaty face from doing something you love and that makes you come alive. It seems to me that beauty is confidence. Beauty is looking inside yourself and Beauty is kindness, a real smile, a real laugh. Beauty is when someone is radiating love. But no culture or company or concept can really define beauty for us. It’s an individual thing, so I’ll stop trying to define it.

Growing up today is hard.

The problem is, in our society, girls grow up being brainwashed in to thinking that “beauty” is the #1 thing that gives you value. But, it’s impossible to fit the mold, so we’re all dissatisfied.

We can’t blame people for wanting to feel beautiful when we’re living in a beauty obsessed system. We can’t just ignore beauty and pretend it doesn’t exist. But we CAN find our own meaning of beauty. We can find our own ways to smash the oppressive belief systems. The only thing to do to fight the power — the only approach that makes sense to me — is to shift the beauty ideal into one of acceptance.

If we ditch the socially constructed unrealistic beauty ideals, all bodies are beautiful. In fact, they’re our vehicle for experiencing and feeling moments of beauty. The key to beauty (and happiness) is to stop living our lives worrying what the world thinks of us. When we let others opinions dictate what we do and act and feel and wear, we lose our power.

You are already beautiful. So embrace it. Feel like it :)

Own your own body and your happiness. And cheer on those who do as well.

This is my body. This is where I live. This body is durable, has lasted for years, and has weathered countless storms. I like it here. This body is my own. My home.

Since comparison really is a major thief of joy, here are a few tips on what to cut out and how to stop bullying our own bodies:

• Stop blaming your body for the bad things in life.
• Stop letting a look or comment from someone determine who you feel about yourself.
• Stop thinking you aren’t in the right body.
• Stop judging yourself for what you can’t do, and instead celebrate what you can.
• Stop criticizing yourself when you look in the mirror.
• Stop thinking your looks are more important than how you feel.
• Stop thinking you don’t matter because of your body

And that brings us to the good stuff. Here it is:

10 steps to love your body

1. See your body as the vehicle for joy and living life fully.
2. Gratitude! Keep a list of things you love about yourself, and things your body let’s you do. Read it and add to it often.
3. Every morning when you wake up, thank your body for resting up so you can enjoy the day.
4. Put mantras like this on your mirrors: “I’m beautiful inside and out.”
5. Look yourself in the eyes at least once a day and say “I love you, you are beautiful.”
6. Wear clothes that you like, that feel good, and that express your personal style. The right clothes are the ones you love to wear because they make you happy.
7. Don’t let your mind bully your body. Be your body’s biggest supporter, not its enemy. When you notice negative thoughts, remind yourself gently: “Life is too short to waste my time hating my body this way.”
8. Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re tired.
9. Find exercise you enjoy, and do it regularly. But don’t exercise to fight your body or “burn off calories” to lose weight. Fuel your life, don’t try to diet it away.
10. Surround yourself with people that remind you of your inner strength and beauty.

The meaning of life and the answer to life’s challenges is not found in the shape of our bodies. Your self-worth is not based on how you look. Skinny doesn’t make you a better person. It just makes you skinny.

Your body is a gift to be cherished, not something to be ashamed of.

Enjoy it. Love it. Live through it.