Viewing Ourselves

Happy Independence Week!!  

I'm BACK!!  My computer is fixed, AND I did it all by myself... well, with some direction from my brother-in-law. So, be ready for some AWESOME posts this week.  Starting NOW! He he! (By the way, it annoys me when people put "he he" .....don't know why.)

Yesterday as we sat in church, Mr. I (5 years old) was innocently "poking" my belly.  After my initial reaction to say "woo hoo" in Pillsbury dough boy fashion (not so appropriate in church,) my mind focused on the fact that I HAD a belly to poke!  I watched as he poked the "roll" in, and out.  Soon, I started FEELING like the Pillsbury DOUGH boy!  I had this image in my head of my tummy that looks, to me, like a big ball of dough, waiting to be made into bread!  Nice visual, huh. "Everyone can see my HUGE dough belly and my son POKING it!"  I thought to myself.

What I See

As you can imagine, I was immediately depressed!  Ha!  It was if NONE of my efforts from the past two months had made a difference.  Who cares that I just might be the most awesome person IN.THE.WORLD! Who cares that I am caring, thoughtful, funny, pretty, smart, spiritual, talented, an awesome mom, wife, friend, genuine, honest, etc.  Nope, just a big, plop of gushy dough.
NO ONE!  Or, so I thought.

You will be proud to know that I only let these thoughts go on for about 10 minutes (still too long,) before I realized a few things. First, although I still have "fat" on my body, I DO have LESS than I did before.  Good, right?  But more importantly, I realized that I needed to view myself differently (DUH!) What I mean is that I needed to view that FAT differently.

Right now, I view it as an OUTSIDE issue.  I relate fat to how I LOOK instead of how I FEEL. The problem is that it is TOO easy to see our faults other than our strengths!  I blame the media (because we all do) with it's "Funny Fat People Photos" and "This Celebrity Has Cellulite" articles. And because of articles like THIS! I was really upset after reading this!  AND, I WROTE A LETTER!  That will teach them! I mean, that whole article SCREAMS with "if you're not skinny, you're not cool."

It's Not How You LOOK, it's How You FEEL.

I'm the first person to admit that being healthy is being slender.  I am aware of the many studies about obese related health issues.  But, I really think that a slender body is the SIDE EFFECT of a healthy lifestyle, NOT the PURPOSE!!!!  The key is NOT to relate FAT to our physical appearance, but rather our physical health.  I put a lot of time yesterday into THINKING about how I look.  When really, the issue isn't that fat makes me look fat, it's that fat itself makes me FEEL tired and sluggish.

You cannot work toward a healthy lifestyle and still have negative thoughts about yourself! How does Negativity affect your Health?? Well, it's been acknowledged for at least thirty years that a positive mental attitude has major health benefits...but how does negativity affect your health? Is it even possible to remain in a positive place, in such a negative time in history? By holding on to negativity, circulation, digestion, respiration, hormones such as cortisol and the like are affected. Negativity also affects the immune system making you more vulnerable to all diseases. I personally believe that living in our culture now requires some sort of "negativity management" daily such as: meditation, affirmations, prayer, yoga, or any other daily practice that restores some balance and hope. I have found that I need my "Sunshine Time" daily to keep my mind peaceful and positive.

The Solution

I have seen this video before, but just recently saw it again and THIS TIME, I decided that this girl is on to something!  (Yes, I TOTALLY did this in the mirror this morning..... jealous much?) It was fun, and made me laugh.  I felt stupid, but it made me focus on who I REALLY am, not who I THINK I am. ;)

Notice how she doesn't say anything about her body (other than her HAIR!) LOL!  I think this is great!

We need to view ourselves differently! Not just our physical selves, but our WHOLE selves. How will YOU see yourself today?  GO, now, look in the mirror and tell yourself WHY you are AWESOME!!!  You will feel dumb....really dumb.  But, I promise you that it will bring a smile to your face!

Tell me how awesome you are!  Leave a comment! OR, tell us ALL how awesome you are on the FB page!

I am on my way to becoming The Healthy Redhead!