I think sorting out how you truly feel about yourself is fundamental to the way you look and feel. It really is the inner foundation. You can have a dream wardrobe full of designer clothes and shoes but if you don’t like yourself it is all for nothing. I think it is our purpose in life to become our own best friend.
In Buddhist philosophy, the way you feel inside is reflected back to you from the outside world almost like a mirror. So if you are not feeling good yourself, you’ll see it mirrored in your outside world. You’ll attract people such as boyfriends, husbands, bosses and workmates in your life who treat you badly. Perhaps, you have noticed when you are feeling good about yourself, you attract positive responses in your life. So be kind to yourself and that goes for the outer you - your body. Its amazing how a neglected body can improve dramatically when you treat it with TLC. Treating ourselves more gently, more compassionately, cutting yourself some slack, brings out the best in yourself. Strict regimes rarely work over the long-term. I spent decades tellling myself I wasn’t good enough and then transferring these feelings onto my body. I punished my body, putting it through regime after regime of diet plans and exercises. Yo-yo dieting and compulsive eating became my pattern. I blamed my body for all the bad feelings I had about myself. I think a lot of girls and women who have low self-worth sub-consciously blame it on their bodies because the media almost encourages us to feel like this. We tend to think we have to constantly fix the outside to feel good about ourselves. I am not advocating an all or nothing scenario, otherwise this website would not exist. I think it is important for young girls and women to feel good about themselves by wearing clothes that flatter them and paying attention to make-up and hairstyles that flatter. Its just striking a balance between feeling good both on the inside and the outside. Its not easy to deal with such a huge, almost intangible issue of loving yourself, so it becomes easier to blame your body instead, it becomes the scapegoat.
I use to look at women in other cultures and see how they were treated, foot binding, female circumcision and a variety of strict religious dictates. I thought to myself, how could they do that to themselves. In the western world we have our restrictions too, eating disorders are just another form of self-punishment. It seems there are even more pressures on young girls to be a size zero. This generates more self-hatred. Anorexia and bulimia, yo-yo dieting and compulsive eating all boil down to the same thing - not liking yourself and wanting to exert some control over the body in which ever method of “self-torture” seen fit. Rather than having the confidence of living your life and following your dreams, the body becomes the obsession. Its such a huge waste of time and energy out of your life. Creatures visiting from another planet would take one look at how young girls and women treat themselves in this world and be shocked and leave in horror!
Learning to love your height, your good bits and your so-called bad bits, your straight hair, curly hair - they’ll always be someone who wants what you’ve got - in turn you’ll want what they have. Far simpler just to accept who you are - you’ll radiate an inner light and that really is where beauty comes from.
white skinny jeans
