Body Peace

Let go of the hate in your heart. You need to make some space for all the love you're capable of.

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:19:01 -0700

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Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:15:45 -0700

'Fat Talk' Compels but Carries a Cost

Wed, 29 May 2013 21:49:00 -0700

Research shows that most women neither enjoy nor admire the body-denigrating bonding ritual known as “fat talk.” But that doesn’t stop them from engaging in it.

Whenever there’s a get together that involves food, I always wonder when the fat talk will begin. Will it come before they even bite into the pizza or will it come after? Maybe I’m not giving people enough credit by assuming that they will start the, “I need to work out or I’m such a fatty I just had so much food” conversation but more often than not, that’s what happens. It can be anything from, “I ate so much and gained like 20 pounds over break” to “I look disgusting in these jeans” to “Fatties for life” to “Are you kidding me? You have no fat on your body. Look at my stomach!!”

I think the article does a really good job of addressing fat talk, so I won’t say much more about it. The one thing I did take away from it was this: Don’t feel like you need to participate in fat talk. You don’t need to add to it.

Dr. Corning said that to break the cycle, a person shouldn’t engage. But particularly for younger women, it’s hard to say something like, “Hey, no negative self-talk!” or “Why do we put ourselves down?”

Instead, for adolescents, she suggested, “Keep it light; it’s not a moment for major social activism. Teenagers can change the topic. They do it all the time.”

Here’s one example of how to combat fat talk:

Friend: “I was so bad today. I just ate so much icecream and like four donuts. Isn’t that disgusting?”
You: Try to change the focus from how “bad” she was to something more neutral or even positive. “Was it good?” “What kind of icecream was it?” “Did you get them from Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme?”

Pay attention to how many times you hear fat talk just this week. Take note of the situation and who you’re with. You may be surprised to find that it’s e v e r y w h e r e. The question is, what are you going to do about it?

*Click on the title to read the full article.

Completely relevant to your body as well. There will be parts...

Mon, 27 May 2013 22:14:06 -0700

Completely relevant to your body as well. There will be parts that you love and parts that you hate, but there’s no reason to focus all your attention on negative energy! Body peace is in your mind.

"You are not accidental. The world needs you. Without you, something will be missing in existence and..."

Sun, 26 May 2013 19:00:13 -0700

“You are not accidental. The world needs you. Without you, something will be missing in existence and nobody can replace it.”

- Osho (via electric-wish)

"Falling in love with yourself is as beautiful as any experience of love is. It’s learning to laugh..."

Sat, 25 May 2013 19:00:37 -0700

“Falling in love with yourself is as beautiful as any experience of love is. It’s learning to laugh at your awkward tendencies and smile at all your quirky habits. It’s learning to be grateful for the many sides you have – confident, crazy, shy, sexy, nerdy, angry, weird, and all the rest of them. It is realizing that you’re one of a kind and that you deserve to give the world the best person you can be. Falling in love with yourself is being happy in your life and knowing that in this one moment in time, you’re beautiful simply because you are you.”

- Kovie Biakolo, Falling In Love With Yourself (via electric-wish)

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 19:00:12 -0700

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

- Buddha (via electric-wish)

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Fri, 24 May 2013 01:52:46 -0700

"As different as we all are, there’s one thing most young women have in common: We’re all brought up..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:00:16 -0700

““As different as we all are, there’s one thing most young women have in common: We’re all brought up to feel like there’s something wrong with us. We’re too fat. We’re dumb. We’re too smart. We’re not ladylike enough - ‘stop cursing, chewing with your mouth open, speaking your mind’. We’re too slutty. We’re not slutty enough.
Fuck that.
You’re not too fat. You’re not too loud. You’re not too smart. You’re not unladylike. There is nothing wrong with you.””

- Jessica Valenti; Full Frontal Feminism (via electric-wish)

"An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:28:02 -0700

“An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.”

- Goi Nasu (via electric-wish)

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:27:21 -0700

“If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

- Roald Dahl (via electric-wish)

"It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:25:59 -0700

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”

- Hugh Laurie (via electric-wish)

I'm not bothered by my weight (much) because I'm a naturally skinny person. But I have trouble with accepting other things about myself.

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:09:35 -0700

Hi Anon!

We’re all going to have our own individual insecurities. For some, it might be their weight, for others their acne or the size of their nose or breasts or thighs or not getting good grades or their shyness. Often I find that along with this “hierarchy of bodies” that we’ve established as a society - thin being the best/top and fat being the very worst/bottom, there’s also this absurd idea that if you are thin or have the “ideal” body type, that you’re also without insecurities or don’t deserve to feel bad about yourself.

I’m not sure if I’m going off on a complete tangent, but what I am trying to say is that learning to accept yourself and accepting the parts of yourself that you don’t like is hard. It’s SO hard and it’s so much easier to just hate on yourself than to try and see yourself with love. Hating yourself - you know how to do that. Easily. Loving yourself? It’s like, where do you even start? How do you even do that?

Self acceptance isn’t one moment. You won’t miraculously have it when you wake up tomorrow morning. It’s about moment to moment, day to day, week to week progress. It’s all about your mindset, your thoughts, your beliefs, your inner voice, the way you see yourself. It’s a kind of peace you can’t get from external, superficial, transient forces like the number of likes you get on your facebook picture. It comes from that part of you that’s hiding beneath all of the negativity and self deprecating thoughts that occupy your time and energy everyday. No one is going to give you self acceptance or self confidence. That comes from within. I know that it may seem like there’s some science or strategy to becoming more confident. Just google “how to build self confidence” or something along those lines and you will get tips and how-tos. I’m not saying those little tips don’t work. But I truly believe that at the core, it’s about your mindset and how you see yourself. It’s about fighting everyday to silence that negative voice in your head whenever it starts to criticize you and reminding yourself of your beauty and what you have to offer to the world apart from your body. One of my favorite quotes relates to this idea: “Your mind is not a cage. It’s a garden. And it requires cultivating.” - Libba Bray

So cultivate it. Cultivate your mind - not just of positive and loving thoughts, but of ideas. Beautiful, powerful ideas that will shape you and mold you as a person more than you could ever mold your own body by spending hours in front of the mirror or at the gym.

Yes!! You don’t need to look for love from without, look...

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:54:59 -0700

Yes!! You don’t need to look for love from without, look for it within.

"My body is not a moral failing, a sign of my lack of willpower, or a measure of my health or..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:38:40 -0700

“My body is not a moral failing, a sign of my lack of willpower, or a measure of my health or worthiness. The only thing you can tell from my size is what size I am and what prejudices you hold about people my size. My body is amazing and I will stand up for it, take care of it, and be undeterred and unashamed of properly caring for it, especially because of societal bigotry perpetuated by people who make their money and/or their self-esteem by trying to rid the Earth of people who look like me.”

- Ragen Chastain (via internal-acceptance-movement)

"Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn...."

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:33:43 -0700

“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”

- Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (via h-o-r-n-g-r-y)

If it scares you, face it.

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:03:00 -0700

I’m talking about food. Whatever makes you anxious, fills you with fear, makes you run the other way, possibly to your calorie counter or scale, face it. Don’t keep avoiding it. Stop depriving yourself of it. We try so hard to control what we eat, but food ends up controlling us.

No food is off limits. Slowly open yourself up to the foods that scare you. Take it day by day. Not just eating those foods, but eating those foods without guilt or regret. That’s key. Instead of punishing yourself for overeating or eating “unhealthy” by bingeing on more food or even throwing it all up, be kind. If you have to be your own cheerleader and talk yourself through those negative thoughts then so be it. When nothing is off limits, when everything is an option, you can make choices. Choices based on what you want and what will make you happy. You’re free. Realize that it’s not the specific food that’s making you overeat. It’s the mindset you have when you eat it. That all or nothing attitude stems from your black and white relationship with food.

I love chocolate, but for the longest time, I avoided it. When I did let myself eat it, I could never have just a little. I would eat the whole chocolate bar and feel awful. This made me avoid chocolate even more because I felt like I couldn’t control myself when I ate it. I realized that it wasn’t chocolate that triggered this reaction. It was my, “I shouldn’t be eating this, it’s not good for me, I am treating myself, but also testing myself, I need to make up for this chocolate by eating less or working out, it’s so good, I can’t stop, oh screw it, I’m already eating it, might as well eat the whole thing” attitude.

Changing my mindset changed my relationship with food. Am I scared of chocolate anymore? No. Do I want it all the time? No. Do I binge on chocolate? No. Slowly, I am tackling my other “fear” foods and somehow by making peace with food, I am making peace with my body.

Dedicate this week to facing one of your fear foods. If you overeat on it, fine! That’s expected. But don’t eat it with guilt or regret. Eat it, savor it, enjoy it, and if you have to, remind yourself that, “No food is off limits.” Create a positive eating experience and food will no longer control you as much as you try to control it.

I refuse to be a fruit……ha

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:05:30 -0700

I refuse to be a fruit……ha

learning this as I go

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:01:48 -0700

learning this as I go

too cute!

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:35:40 -0700

too cute!