Nowadays, so many people hate the way they look. I mean, let’s face it, everywhere you look, whether it’s on television, your social media feeds or in magazines, you’ll see ‘gorgeous’ women and men, showing off their body, wearing designer clothes, soaking up the sun on some remote beach on the far side of the world.
Additionally, you may be taking a selfie that you think looks great but, once uploaded, it only gets a couple of likes and comments, resulting in you taking it down. Why is this? What makes our minds do this to one another? It may seem far-fetched, but each of us can learn to love our bodies. It doesn’t matter whether we’re male or female, young or old or where we’re from. Make today a new beginning.
Become One with Your Body
One of the most common problems that people nowadays face is being out of tune with their ‘internal body’ image. Instead, most individuals solely focus on their external image. This is what people believe other people see themselves as, rather than how they think of themselves.
Instead of putting something on or caring what other people think, instead, how do you really feel about yourself? What do you really think of your body and how does your body feel every day? I’m not saying this is an easy thing to do. It’s easy to stare at yourself in mirror and point flaws, especially the flaws you think other people will notice.
Instead, stare yourself in the eyes and point out the positives to your body and the way you look. Practice this every day, and you’ll soon find you’ve become a lot more focused on how you feel and think, rather than your perception of what other people think.
Become Aware of Your Thoughts
Imagine you’ve been smoking cigarettes ten times a day for the last ten years. You would call that habit, wouldn’t you? So, now imagine that you’ve had negative thoughts about the way you look when you catch yourself in the mirror. When a fleeting thought pops in when you see your reflection in a window or when you go to the bathroom. I think it’s safe to say that many people would do this more than ten times a day.
This is a habit of negative thought and, like quitting smoking, it takes willpower to change. To beat your habit, you need to start becoming aware of your thoughts when you have them. When you’ve noticed a thought, challenge it. Self-criticism is one of the most important aspects of your mindset that you’ll need to focus on improving. In some cases, you’ll be shocked if you actually count up how many times you put yourself down in your head, usually without even noticing.
If you’re late for work, if you’ve eaten a ‘cheat’ food, if you say something to someone and wish you had said something else. All of these are negative thoughts that will impact the way you think about yourself. By practising and becoming aware of the way you think about yourself, the more chance you have of changing your perception.
Accept That Social Media is False Reality
If you were to break up with your partner, you wouldn’t take a picture of yourself crying your eyes out when you’re feeling as low as you’ve ever felt and post it on Instagram. Nor would you usually post a picture of you waking up in the morning looking extremely hungover after a night out. You just don’t see it.
Instead, what you see is photos of friends or individuals smiling together. You see Snapchat Stories of friends sitting in a bar having fun together or pristine selfies of individuals relaxing at home. What you don’t see is everybody getting drunk and falling out with their friends on the same night out. You don’t see the unedited, unfiltered version of these individuals.
One of the biggest steps you must take in feeling better about yourself is accepting that social media creates a false reality around you. People only post what people want you to see, not everything that’s happening all the time. You may see the odd negative post here and there, but it’s mainly positive. Life isn’t all positive. When it rains, it shines. Once you have come to terms with this, loving yourself becomes a lot easier.
You Are What You Look At
If you surround yourself day by day looking in glossy magazines of A-list celebrities, catwalk models and photoshopped images of superstars, you’re unconsciously hardwiring your brain to believe that everybody looks that certain way. For example, if you joined a running camp and lived in a world surrounded by runners for a year, that’s what you’d believe the norm was. It’s the same with everyday life.
Instead of just searching out and scrolling through post after post of touched up and photoshopped ‘icons’, instead, create a bit of variety in your life, or cut down on your visual content.
Make Today a New Beginning
With all the considerations above in mind, you may be thinking it’s extremely difficult to complete all these aspects, especially if you’ve been in your current habits for years. However, there’s a simple and effective way to help. Meditation.
Through meditation, even if you’re practising for 10-15 minutes a day, not only are you detaching yourself temporarily from the incessant posts and feeds that fill our lives, you’re also taking the time out to tune into your body, to see how you really feel. You’re also allowing yourself to view your thoughts as they come and go, really focusing on how your mind works and what you’re thinking about.
With practice, even after a couple of days, you’ll start to become a lot more aware in your life of the thoughts and judgements you have about yourself and others. From here, you can proactively change the way you think, ultimately leading to a happier, healthier mindset.
Mike Arnold is a freelance writer and an avid yoga enthusiast and daily meditator. He’s committed to making a change in people’s lives and always open to exploring new ideas and concepts that can lead to happier lives for all. Liked this article? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below, and don’t forget to share this with your family and friends!