Overcoming Body Image Issues

I want to talk to the body-haters out there. Look in the mirror, then fill in the blank: “I hate my…..” What body part du jour grabbed your disapproval this time? Your thighs? Hips? Stomach? Butt? Chin? Neck? Cultivating love for your own body is easier said than done and takes more than cliché affirmations…

Of all the “self-qualities” in one’s life portfolio, self-worth is the one that should be the unconditional foundation to all the others. Do you believe you’re a good person, deserving of respect? Do you tether yourself to life by inherent worth that worldly whims and expectations can’t strangle or sever? “Of course,” you may say.…

Be honest. Is social media affecting your body image? Do you find yourself masking your true feelings behind a heart emoji? Pretending your peripheral vision doesn’t catch a comparative glance at the red-carpet and beach bodies vying for your eye-time? Unless you live in a bunker, the answer is probably yes. Social media has rapidly…

Corsets, bikinis, skinny jeans, stilettos. Every culture has its version of the contrived ideal body and the clothes that should fit it. We all buy into it because it’s pumped into the very air we breathe, trying as we may to hold our breath in protest. Inclusive advertising, body positive images, anti-bullying campaigns — what,…

Times change. People change. Bodies change. But interestingly, findings from body image research haven’t changed much in the past 30 years. Sadly, the common thread of impossible beauty standards still stitches its way through the world’s many cultures. And people still struggle to like, let alone love, what they see in the mirror. In the…

What does Albert Einstein have to do with body image? Perhaps not so much in the direct sense. But, as one revered for his astronomical mind and theories, he favored insatiable curiosity and great questions over the presumption of absolutes. A body image questionnaire, then, if composed of key questions, could lead the open-minded, curious…

Bodies are neither good nor bad. Body image, however, can’t say the same. Good, bad, or somewhere in between, body image isn’t really about your body at all. It’s about the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions you have about it. Positive thoughts and feelings? Good body image. Negative thoughts and feelings? Bad body image.  For most…

You’ve probably heard the saying about beach body images. The one that goes like this: If you want a beach body, go to the beach. With your body. Now you have a beach body! Sigh. If only we were all socialized to feel that eeezy breezy. But we’re not. We feel self conscious. If we…

Bikini-prepping, Keto dieting, scales, tape measures, photo filters, celebrity icons, and constant self-evaluation in the company of a mirror. We may know it’s not healthy, yet somehow society has developed a collective “not-surprised” numbness to girls and body image issues.  But what about guys?  Why don’t we hear about male body image issues the way…