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 How You Can Learn To Accept Your Body, Love It, And Love Yourself

If Harry Potter gave you his wand and said you could use it to do anything you wanted, would you transform your body, and change things about you to make you feel pretty, beautiful, confident, and happy?  Wished yourself curly or straight hair, bigger boobs, thinner legs, or a svelte waist? Yes? For me – no. There was a time when I would have wished the same. Hundreds of times. Asking myself, as many of us do…”is learning to accept your body unconditionally even possible?”

I used to look through all the clothes in my closet wondering why I have this many clothes! It’s because although some fit, others were too small, and the rest too big.

The ones that were too small, I saved in the hope of one day fitting into them again. The big ones were just a reminder for me that I didn’t want to fit into a bigger size anymore.

There are many women who are repulsed and disgusted with the body they inhabit. It is so sad.  I used to hate on my body for years and years.  Then I realized, we all have a choice, either feel bad about your body or love and accept it fully.

Hating our body is something we learn, therefore, it is something we can unlearn too.

Here’s What You Need To Do

Today I want to share with you some easy and simple ways to gain  a positive self image.

Before we get started, let me just say, this post is for informational purposes only. I am not a doctor.

Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen.

At times I felt fat and unattractive. Have you ever felt the same? It was back and forth with feelings of feeling good about my looks and days of just feeling bummed out.

When I started my mindset change, and let go of negative things and people in my life, I was able to shift my focus and transform my thoughts. This helped me do more personal work on me. I read a lot about my negative self-talk, my lifestyle habits, nutrition and self-esteem.

I quickly realized that to love and accept your body you have to transform your thoughts. Loving yourself has everything to do with the way you think, and little to do with fad diets and body cleaning.

Think of it this way, image you had a best friend who supported you every dingle day. Loved and protected you. Helped you to walk, talk, laugh, sleep, dream, eat and read. This friend was so amazing because your friend even helped you eat and breathe! In return, all you did was criticize and insult your friend. Even going as far as saying you hate them.

Think about that for a minute. Isn’t that awful? This is what some of us do to our bodies, every single day.

Here’s How To Love and Accept Your Body

1. Be Mindful Of Your Body

Mindfulness teaches us to keep coming back to the present moment. Be aware of your body, the way you carry yourself. The body is always in the present moment. In order to accept your body, you must take into consideration your posture.

Posture affects how you perceive body. I notice that when I am working, and I slouch, I am not motivated or mindful when I sit up straight, I can focus better. I am also mindful of my feet planted on the floor as well as my breathing.Moving helps you feel grateful to have a body that allows you to move.

Your body wants to stretch, exercise, and be nourished.  Your body wants to feel good. Until you feel worthy of feeling your best, you will constantly and repeatedly undermine your efforts to achieving that end. Try it, it works, and you’ll notice that you will start living a much more conscious and awake life.

2. Detox Your Thoughts –  Make Your Words Reflect Your Wishes

I cannot stress this enough. If you are feeling bad about your body it’s likely because you never have anything good to say about it. Listen to what you’re saying, stopping and taking a moment to rephrase.
Do you often say to yourself,  “I’m not ________ enough” or “I can’t do _______”,
“I wish I were  ________ “  – rephrase it in a way that expresses the same idea in a positive way.

Instead of: “I cannot  run up to the third floor, I am not fit”
Try saying: “I am going to make it to the first floor first, then the second and the third.”
Or: “I know I haven’t done it before, but today is a good day to try.”

Replace words that are negative, fearful or critical with positive supportive words.

“I am a work in progress, and that’s OK” is enough to say to yourself no matter what the situation is.

3.  Stop That Negative Self-Talk

A lot of us judge and say things to ourselves that we would not think of saying to our best friends. Do you judge yourself and others? I have done a lot of this in the past and it got me nowhere.

All it did was continue to break my self-esteem and made me feel bad about myself. I want you to love yourself and accept your body.

Try catching yourself when you are saying something mean. Put a dollar aside for every time you speak negative words instead of positive affirmations to yourself.

When you pass by a mirror, don’t say, “My stomach is fat, and I look horrible today.” – Try, “This dress suits me well, and I look good.”  You may not believe the words you are saying the first few times you try this, but the more you say it, the more you will believe it.

It is possible to say something positive every time you see yourself in the mirror.

What if every single time you saw your reflection you said something positive?

About your hair, blemishes, hips, clothes, jewelry,outfit, etc.  There must be at least three things you can find to say. Say it every time you see yourself.

This exercise can aid transformation. Try it and see. Changing your thought patterns will change your life.

It’s when, and only when, you realize you’re judging, and choose to see things differently then a change will come.

4. Find Out What The Source Of The Problem Is

Body image is how you view your physical self and whether you feel you are attractive.
For you to accept your body you will need to be in tune with yourself.

It centers around everything you believe about your own appearance memories, assumptions, and generalizations.

How you sense and control your body as you move. The way you feel about your body, including your height, shape, and weight. Society has told women of all shapes and sizes that they need to look and be a certain way.

We know it’s wrong but still, we try to comply.

The image of beauty is  distorted.  It glorifies thin and skinny women as the ideal woman. This makes it unrealistic as well as unattainable for most women. So glad times are changing and we are seeing more Black, Spanish, mixed, and Asian women the catwalk,  and more curvy women on magazine covers.

If you are sad and dissatisfied with your self-image, it is important for you to get to the root of why you feel that way.

Are you subconsciously comparing your body to the bodies of your friends and family?

Recognize the triggers in your environment that make us feel bad about our body.  You will never feel happy and satisfied on the outside if you do not feel the same on the inside. See Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

5. Make The Change So You Accept Your Body And Love Yourself Too

Changing your perception of the way you view and judge yourself can help you transform to your happiest self.

If you do not love yourself completely and unconditionally, nothing will ever be good enough for you.

This applies to all women. Whether you are too skinny, curvy, overweight, or ‘just the right size’.

If you do not accept yourself, you will end up blaming your body for many things that happen to you in life. Why? The basis of your problem is your lack of self- acceptance and insecurities.

You may reach your “ideal weight”, whatever that is ,and still stay unhappy. Realizing that what you needed was not to shed weight (as in my case) but to shed your lack of self-love.

One of the things I did was decide to love my “today’s body”.  That meant that  no matter what I looked on a particular day, I would love myself anyway. Speak words of support to myself.  You can do the same and never have to deal with the negativity that comes with a bad body image again.

Begin to Accept Your Body Today!

As you earn to accept your body, you will understand that your body is your friend and teammate.

Listen to your body, not the voices that tell you that you need a different one.

The body you are in is the best body for you. However, if you must make changes and adjustments, work toward those goals.

Make short-term achievable goals that your body will help guide you in reaching.  Focus on feeling great, and doing things that make you happy and feel alive. Become your biggest advocate.

Treat yourself the way that you would treat others. With care, love, and respect. As I focused on the things in my life that are going right, I become more mindful, grateful and thankful for the life that I have. I can now appreciate my body, and all the things that make me unique and beautiful.

I love to help, encourage, motivate and inspire. Self-love and the ability to accept your body and who you are is more powerful and meaningful than the genetics we are born with. Some of which we have no control over.

Learn to love yourself, and then extend that love to others. If the labels we give ourselves are perceived as positive, we strive to remain within that idea. When you are beautiful on the inside, it will show on the outside.

How are you dealing with your body image? Love it or hate it? Share with  me in the comments section below.