| Seven Steps for Improving Your Self-View |
| Written by Toni McSorley |
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1. Find the things you really like about your body: is it your hair? The shape of your fingers? Your eyes? Compliment yourself on these things every day. 2. Appreciate your body for the miracle it is. It is an amazing machine, and is serving you well because you are alive and able to do what you need/want to do. No other vehicle on earth could provide that for you. 3. Choose your peers. There’s no sense in hanging out with a bunch of people who constantly complain about themselves, e.g. I’m so fat, I have wrinkles, I don’t like my feet, etc. Find friends who are comfortable in their skins and emulate them. 4. Choose your child’s peer group. No matter how enthused she may be about a particular activity, what is most important is the friends she finds there. Girls as young as nine are expert dieters these days, and the number of diet-drug related deaths and anorexia mortalities is growing yearly. The adult leader of an activity should be confident and should see your child as beautiful just the way she is. The activity should be geared at enhancing her innate abilities and skills, not in changing the way she looks. 5. Set a good example. If you find it hard to appreciate yourself, ask yourself how you want your children to see themselves. They will likely grow up with the same self-views that you example, so be positive about yourself. 6. Make it possible to feel good. Keep the junk foods out of the house and provide natural, delicious snacks in addition to well balanced meals. It may seem simpler to go grab some fast food for dinner, but neither you nor your children will feel good about what you just ate. This translates into knowing you aren’t good at self-care, which leads to thinking you have an inadequate body. The same goes for exercise: take a family walk at night or a run around the block in the morning. Get some bikes and take rides together. Go hiking. Give yourselves a way to feel proud about your body maintenance. 7. Talk about your self-views. Praise your children and ask them what they like about themselves. Let your children know you think they’re great! Look in the mirror and do the same for yourself! |
