About the body. How to love your body. Excerpts from an interview with Osho. How to love your body if it is far from ideal How to accept your body psychology

Every day, people see a huge number of unrealistic and potentially harmful images of ideal bodies. Because of this, it becomes difficult for a person to accept, love his body and feel confident, but without this, healthy self-esteem is impossible. You need to know what your body can do and fall in love with those capabilities. The philosopher Baruch Spinoza argued that people “don’t know the capabilities of the body,” meaning that a person doesn’t realize what his body is capable of until he starts trying different things. Psychologists also believe that a person is not aware of all the possibilities. To love your body, it is important to explore all aspects of your body.

Steps

How to appreciate your body's features

Think about what gives you pleasure. Make a list of pleasant moments for you. Describe everything in detail: who you are with, what you are doing, where you are. Think about what these moments have in common. People? Mood? Or just the atmosphere (for example, nature or city)? Once you understand what factors allowed your body to experience maximum pleasure in the past, try to put yourself in those situations as often as possible in the future.

Think about what you can do. Since all bodies are unique, all people are given some things better and some things worse. If you are a short person, it will be more difficult for you to play basketball, but you can be a good horseman. To accept your body, it is important to understand that you cope better with some tasks. It may take some time for you to realize which tasks are right for you.

If you don't know what your body does better, try doing something you never planned to do. Take a yoga class or a ceramics class. Go to an improv performance. As Spinoza said, it is impossible to understand what the body can do until you try to do something.

Think about what you like about your figure and appearance. Even those who don't like their bodies can find something about themselves that they like. It is important to learn to appreciate all your good qualities, including physical ones. Don't cling to qualities you don't like. Think about the qualities you love about yourself.
- Let's say you don't like your thighs right now. You may think they are too fat or thin. It is important to try to see something good in the situation. For example, you wish your thighs were thinner, but they help you a lot when climbing mountains. Or you are worried about being too thin, but it is precisely because of it that your legs look great in a short skirt.
Accept your body as it is. Don't try to change yourself and don't think about qualities you don't like. Learn to love your body - how you move, what you feel, how you move in space. Forget about what your body looked like before, especially if it has changed after pregnancy, childbirth, injury or illness. Appreciate your body for what it is now.

How to avoid negative thoughts about your body
1. Think about how much time you spend thinking negatively about your body. Negative thoughts will not help you love yourself. Try spending a day or two thinking about how often you think about your appearance. How often do you have negative thoughts about your body? Most likely, you criticize yourself more often than you praise yourself.
  - Try recording the number of negative thoughts in a diary, notepad, or on your phone. Carry a notepad with you and write down negative thoughts you have. Pay attention to whether these thoughts were caused by the way you look. In the evening, you will be surprised at how often you think negatively about yourself.
2. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. It may be difficult in the beginning, but it must be done. As soon as you realize that a negative thought has come to you, replace it with a positive one. Try to train yourself to think positively all the time.
  - Start every day with positive thoughts. Remind yourself of these thoughts throughout the day if you start criticizing yourself. For example: “I really like how this new haircut makes me feel.”
3. Avoid negative images in the media. Avoid TV shows, movies, magazines and blogs that portray unrealistic or negative body imagery. Remind yourself that most photographs that appear in magazines and on the Internet have been manipulated to make the model conform to artificial standards of beauty and sexuality.
  
  Find a therapist who uses cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques allow you to focus on the present and planning for the near future. It is best to work with this method together with a psychotherapist, but you can do it on your own. If a negative thought comes to you, stop, take a deep breath and try to find confirmation of this thought. Has anyone told you that this is the part of your body where you have imperfections? If so, did the person say it out of spite or was he trying to be funny?
  
  Don't let negative people influence you. It is important not only to strive to be kinder to yourself and remind yourself of your strengths, but also to refuse to communicate with negative people. Are your friends and family criticizing you? Do they tell you that you need to lose weight, change your hair, start dressing differently? If yes, you should fight this influence.
  - Remember that you are unlikely to be able to erase close friends and relatives from your life, as you can do with magazines and television shows. But if they overly criticize or ridicule you, you will need to talk to them about how their words or behavior hurt you. You should speak respectfully, but firmly.
4. Chat with different people. When trying new activities, start talking to people you don't usually talk to or avoid. Talking to strangers will be scary at first, but gradually it will become easier for you. Even if you find it difficult to start, remember that isolation is even worse. Scientists have found that isolation is as dangerous to health as obesity. Talk to new people, especially if the people you currently interact with disapprove of your appearance or have a destructive influence on you.
How to Focus on the Positive
1. Remind yourself of what you like about yourself. Every time you have a negative thought about your body, remind yourself of what you like about your body. Make a list of at least ten qualities that are not related to appearance. Update the list regularly.
  
  Change your attitude towards mirrors. If you often look in the mirror, promise yourself not to think or say anything negative about yourself. Use a mirror to remind yourself of pleasant things. If you find it difficult to look at yourself in the mirror, take your time. Scientists have found that people who rarely look in the mirror are more likely to focus on their work or relationships rather than their appearance.
How to set goals and change your habits
1. Set positive goals for yourself. Think not about the negative associated with the goal, but about the positive. For example, if you decide to exercise, don't set a goal to lose a certain number of pounds. The goal should be positive, for example: “I exercise so that I can run 3 kilometers without stopping,” or: “I want to walk more so that I can go hiking in the mountains with my father.”
  - You'll be more likely to achieve your goals (both in terms of fitness improvement and self-acceptance) if you focus on the things you want to get better at.
2. Play sports that you enjoy. Choose exercises that you find interesting and exciting. Don't choose exercise based solely on the benefits it can give you. Try new activities and keep only the ones you enjoy. For example, if you like yoga, do yoga even if you feel like you're overweight for it. Almost all fitness programs can be adapted for a person of any weight and any level of training.
  - If you feel shy about working out with other people, take one-on-one classes, take a class with a friend, or work out at home. Don't let the fear of being judged by other people influence your decisions.
3. Think about your style. Don't buy clothes, do makeup and choose haircuts based solely on what is considered suitable for people of your body type, or what is recommended in fashion magazines. Wear what you want, what you like and what you feel comfortable in. Choose clothes that reflect your personality, that you feel comfortable in and that suit your lifestyle.
Way of thinking
1. Find the right specialist. There are several options for help. You can sign up with a psychotherapist for individual sessions. You can participate in group therapy or join a support group where the structure is less rigid. You can also find a support group online and connect with people who are familiar with body image issues.
  - It is important to find people who will not judge your attitude towards yourself. Look for people who can help you with advice.
- Place sticky notes on your mirror with a list of qualities you like about yourself. You can write a few qualities related to your appearance (for example, “you have beautiful cheekbones”), but most of the qualities should be related to your character.
- Support from others is extremely important as you will benefit from advice from people you trust. Remember these tips whenever negative thoughts arise again.
- If you want to go on a diet or start exercising, talk to your doctor first. Avoid sudden weight changes.
- All people are different, no matter what their shape is. Everyone likes different types of appearance. Some people worry about body hair, others don't see anything wrong with it.
Sources
1. Spinoza, B. (1677). Ethics. Everyman Classics, translation by G H R Parkinson, 1989. (Note, Prop. II, Part III)
2. Gallagher, S. (2005). How the body shapes the mind. Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press.
3. Kate, H. (2013). Positive Psychology And The Body: The Somatopsychic Side To Flourishing: The somatopsychic side to flourishing. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Erofeevskaya Natalya

Often we don’t like something about our beloved: ears, shoulders, arms, buttocks and the rest. The chest, legs and thighs top this list by a staggering margin. Criticizing ourselves and catching the views of relatives, colleagues and friends expressing complete sympathy, we completely refuse to understand and accept that these same crooked legs with protruding ears are an exceptional individuality, characteristic only of our royal person and which does not interfere with our life at all.

Comparison with standards of beauty in the form of popular models on catwalks leads to sad sighs and despair to look at least a third like this flawless body. How to stop worrying about your own appearance, which can lead to psychosis and a nervous breakdown, and love your body the way it was born and raised? With this article we will establish a relationship with our own body.

Imposed standards

In fact, despite the 90-60-90 accepted and revered for decades, the standards of the ideal female body are constantly changing. The peculiar “curly” fashion includes either curvy girls, or thin ones, or size 5 breasts, or practically zero ones - it is important to understand how susceptible a particular female person is to imposed social pressure and allows her own life and body to be subordinated to it.

The pressure that girls and women who lack self-confidence are subjected to is strong. Chic models in product advertisements, numerous food-drinks-dietary supplements for weight loss, funny videos on the Internet with unhappy fatties, with ideal stars of the screen and stage smoothed out in all places - women’s complexes simply swell with every page and TV show viewed. An ordinary woman can behave in two ways:

trying to achieve the same exceptional body through merciless round-the-clock training and taking various drugs, which may improve appearance, but harm your overall health;
or, realizing that it is impossible to achieve the ideal, stop watching and caring for your body, dooming it to a sad existence - this is direct harm to both health and self-esteem.

If a woman realizes her dependence on the imposed visual video sequence, she should eliminate as much as possible her own bullying by long-legged girls and thighs without a hint of cellulite.

It should be understood that not a single photograph in the glamor press is complete without processing in PhotoShop, girls starring in films and television shows are dressed in corsets and tights, and most chic women's cleavages are the result of expensive surgical intervention or pads in the bra, propping up from all angles. sides

Such as they are

Individuality is what you should value your body for. Even if it is not toned and elastic enough, the skin leaves much to be desired, and the breasts do not reach such a tempting Thursday size - this is what was given to you by nature, there is no other body and there will not be, and it’s time to start taking care of what is available. Over time, you will learn to enjoy it and love yourself for who you are.

Think about it: all beautiful bodies are so alike that if you put the head of one famous female model against another, no one will notice the difference. Our imperfect arms, bellies and butts are the individual handwriting, character, uniqueness of a particular person on the scale of the Universe.

The influence of self-esteem

Psychologists have proven that the higher a woman’s level of self-esteem, the less desire she expresses to delve into the shortcomings of her own body. Confident women and girls with extraordinary, free thinking do not alienate their body in dreams of an inaccessible size 42. Busy with external events, hobbies, an enthusiastic person, there is no time to cut the branch on which he sits.

How ? Meditation and sports, books and films, travel, meeting interesting people, your own comprehensive development will help you analyze and reevaluate your inner world, and then approach the physical shell from the right side. Challenging your own established negative opinions about your own body is a solvable task: nothing is impossible to enter into a peaceful agreement with your own physical self.

Alone with myself

It is recommended to evaluate yourself qualitatively and subjectively: this requires five to ten minutes of peace and a full-length mirror. Having undressed, stand in front of the mirror and say out loud the noticed physical defects, not forgetting about the advantages: “My hands are not thin enough, but not every girl can boast of such a manicure,” “Yes, my ears stick out slightly, but lush curls will cover them, and no one won’t notice”, etc. Shape, texture (rough, roughened or lost elasticity of the skin) and color (pallor, dullness, pigmentation) are assessed.

It is recommended to repeat this exercise from time to time, noting the dynamics of your attitude towards certain problem areas of the body - over time, you will stop paying attention to a number of errors, and your attitude towards the remaining ones will change in a positive direction. Admit that you have something to express respect and gratitude to your body for: perhaps it brought sports or creative victories to its owner, carried and gave birth to children, and found strength in exceptional situations.

Sexuality

It is impossible to be feminine and sexy without loving your own body: only awareness of yourself and your attractiveness in the eyes of others, sensuality and controllability will allow you to fully experience the outer physical shell. You should not look for shortcomings in yourself if you are sensual and loved - the man next to you will feel unnecessary doubts about irresistibility and, who knows, what fruits these seeds planted in the male soul will bear.

You are charming, you are loved - this is the kind of girl your lover paid attention to: maintain the level of physical attractiveness, and problems in personal relationships will not arise. Stop negative thoughts about your own body at the initial stage of their occurrence: any doubt can be inflated to the size of an elephant, and then unsuccessfully try to fight it - it is much easier to brush it off or correct it when it is no more than an annoying fly.

Concentrating on your own sensations will allow you to reveal sexuality and enjoy it to the fullest. Thoughts about the shortcomings of the body, like thunderclouds, cover up the pleasant and bright sensations of life. Having rejected them, give both your soul and body a chance to receive a portion of intimate physical pleasures and the fulfillment of your innermost desires.

Improving physical fitness

Are you crying over your saggy belly and flabby arms? Instead of handkerchiefs, it's time to pick up dumbbells or buy a gym and pool membership. Regular physical exercise will make your body expressive and sculpted, your movements will be easy, and your self-esteem will be confident. A pleasant feeling of your own muscles, strong abs and toned buttocks will have a direct impact on the sexuality that men feel instinctively.

This advice comes down not to fighting shortcomings, but to fighting your own laziness, which has been preventing you from taking care of yourself for the last ten years - dissatisfaction with your body will speed up the transition from metastasis to action. We must not forget that the achieved result will turn out to be a temporary phenomenon if you stop regular exercise: let training, gymnastics, yoga become a healthy habit for many years of full-fledged existence.

We correct shortcomings

Big ears? There are plenty of Hollywood stars who don’t even try to cover up their protruding ears! Reese Witherspoon, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts and the leader in this category, “earedness” does not at all prevent them from starring in film after film and receiving the well-deserved love and recognition of the audience.

Crooked or X-shaped legs? They can easily be “treated” with long skirts and flared or baggy trousers, properly selected shoes and good poses when photographing and filming - notice how competently Paris Hilton poses with far from perfect legs, but who adores short skirts and dresses.

Large and/or substantial masculine feet will become visually smaller and more petite in dark-colored shoes with high, elegant heels. This accessible trick will narrow the leg in its lower part and align it along its entire length, and at the same time add 10-15 cm.

Are your legs too thin or, on the contrary, full, like pillars, preventing you from enjoying life and reducing your already shaky self-esteem? Let's return to the Hollywood stars: with exceptionally thin legs and arms, she has been the object of male adoration for many years, and she is not at all embarrassed by her full (and crooked!) legs and passionately loves tight-fitting leggings that only emphasize imperfections and ballet flats that make such legs shapeless.

Plump and puffy face? Sculpting with makeup will highlight the cheekbones, outline the chin, emphasize the wings of the nose - each time the makeup applied will look more and more natural.

The problems of wide hips and small breasts are solved by advantageous cut and texture of materials and well-chosen underwear, which will highlight the natural second size in such a way that no one’s eye will doubt the fourth size received.

And learn to treat yourself and the shortcomings of your own body with humor - healthy self-irony has never harmed anyone. Complexes that a teenage girl cannot cope with are assessed constructively by an adult woman and either accepted as they are or corrected in simple ways.

5 February 2014, 18:32

There is probably no woman who would be one hundred percent satisfied with her own body. Looking at ourselves in the mirror, we constantly look for shortcomings, shortcomings, flaws. Here is a “crow’s foot”, here is a gray hair, thighs slightly covered with cellulite, a pigment spot that has come from nowhere, an absurd fold, a purple crack of another stretch mark, a flat butt, an ugly mole, a breast that has sagged a little after feeding, a slightly asymmetrical face - look for defects in your You can look endlessly, but what will it give?

A negative body image is formed when a person is permanently dissatisfied with his body. This, in turn, gives rise to a number of psychological problems: dysmorphophobia, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, addiction to plastic surgery. The cultural emphasis on thinness, ideal proportions and facial features as the main signs of beauty sows the seeds of self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness in our heads. The models looking at us from the pages of glossy magazines, clothing catalogs, commercials and billboards, Internet banners and Instagram accounts are stunning, perfect and unimaginable - they embody the very ideal that women of the 21st century worship. Smooth, smooth skin, without a hint of wrinkles, pimples, excess hair, pigmentation, stretch marks or orange peel, professional manicure at any time of the day or night, thick, shiny and unrealistically voluminous hair, long and straight legs, elastic round bust standing upright, a flat stomach, a neat nose, as if carved by a sculptor, toilet-white teeth, juicy plump lips, impeccably lined eyebrows, lush fanned eyelashes and impeccable makeup - with our brains we understand all the artificiality and hand-made nature of this beauty, but it captivates us, captivates us and forces us subconsciously focus on it and involuntarily compare your external data with those presented by mass culture. This is where body shaming originates.

Body shaming(from the English body - body and shame - shame) is a condemnation of all body shapes that differ from generally accepted standards of beauty. The image of the ideal body disseminated by the media makes all those who clearly fall short of this very ideal feel embarrassed and ashamed of their appearance. People dependent on the opinion of the majority break under such a barrage of public pressure and criticism, and at the same time their self-esteem collapses. This is especially dangerous for people with an unstable psyche: women have recently increasingly become ill with anorexia or go under the surgeon’s knife in an attempt to get closer to screen perfection. How can this be stopped? How to resist the onslaught of aggressive beauty propaganda? Psychologists are sure: only the formation of a positive body image can help in self-acceptance. But how can you stop constantly stressing yourself out and driving yourself into despair over issues of appearance? We give instructions!

Positive list. Look at yourself as a whole person: you are much more than your face or body - you Human, you have soul, mind and character. Write a list of qualities and traits that you can be proud of, that you really like about yourself. Of course, it is better if they are not related to appearance, but the choice is yours. This could be dedication, perseverance, sensitivity, quick-wittedness, determination, sociability, compassion, responsibility, etc. Nevertheless, nothing prevents you from indicating an attractive eye color, a beautiful shape of nails, cool hair, and a thin waist, if you see fit. However, the point of this advice is to stop looking at yourself only through the prism of external data.

Comfortable clothes. Get rid of those wardrobe items that, for one reason or another, make you feel uncomfortable, don’t fit well, or that have simply outlived their usefulness. Wear the clothes that you like, that make you feel comfortable and comfortable. It doesn’t matter what fashion dictates or what your friends, colleagues or classmates are wearing - only you can decide what to wear this morning.

Good company. Be selective about your social circle: form it based on the pleasure of communicating with them. Try to minimize contacts with toxic interlocutors who may allow themselves to speak negatively or joke about your appearance or the appearance of other people. You don't have to tolerate such individuals in your life. Even if this happened only once, think carefully about whether you really need to continue communicating with such a person.

Information filtering. Pay attention to what you watch and listen to. Avoid websites, magazines and TV shows that deal with topics of weight, strict diets, plastic surgery, ideal forms, aggressively objectify, and unrealistically depict the female body. Wherever body shaming occurs, women are secretly inciting hatred towards their own bodies. You should be critical of the information that the media presents to you: not a single star will appear on the TV screen or gadgets without makeup and styling or processing in a photo editor.

Refocus. Focus on other things besides appearance issues: hobbies, studies, work, travel, helping others, etc. After all, there are much more interesting things to do than constantly staring at yourself in the mirror, looking for the next imperfection and then worrying about it all day, right? Gradually move away from this: smile at yourself in the mirror in the morning, promise that today will be a productive day, and go achieve your goals. When a person is busy and passionate about something, he does not invent unnecessary problems for himself. Therefore, keep yourself busy with something useful and stop focusing on the most likely imaginary shortcomings of your appearance.

Taking care of your body. To stop treating your own body as an enemy, take care of it and show concern: eat healthy, tasty food, use high-quality skin care products, do gentle beauty treatments without overusing them, engage in physical activity in the form that suits you , buy what really makes you happy, and not what the fashion and beauty industry zombies you with. Show your body that you love, respect and accept it for who it is, but are vigilant about its well-being, protecting and improving it in your own way. personal motives.

Beauty is not a tool of commerce. Objectification of the female body is a real problem in the media space. A woman is used to being perceived only as a beautiful and sexy shell, but not as a full-fledged person with her own needs, problems and beliefs. Meanwhile, beauty is truly a multifaceted and largely subjective concept. First of all, real beauty does not have a superficial nature; its essence lies much deeper. True beauty is the beauty of the soul: the just actions of a person and his system of views and values. The modern world, unfortunately, has replaced this concept. Today, beauty is a successfully sold product, the main weapon of advertising. If you are ugly, from the point of view of generally accepted standards of the information society, then you are unhappy and unsuccessful. Physical beauty (again, according to imposed modern canons) is presented as the only value a woman can have. But you understand perfectly well that this is complete nonsense?

In fact, body image is quite variable and can fluctuate over certain periods of time from negative to neutral and from neutral to positive, you need to keep this in mind. Do not succumb to other people’s distorted thoughts and standards, provocations and influence, develop your own culture of evaluating and understanding the image of your appearance and the concept of beauty in general. Your body and face are given to you by nature, you do everything in your power to maintain your own beauty, create and preserve it as it is at the moment. And only you yourself have the right to choose what is acceptable for you and what is not - not a single third-party opinion should shake your self-esteem.

We cannot love and be loved until we learn to accept ourselves. It is not so easy to remove false masks, accept loved ones and find those who appreciate us for who we are. How to learn to love yourself or return this love if it has been lost?

Mental state is a part of our health, no less important than physical state. Anxiety, fears, a constant desire to prove something to yourself and others - this is a false facade that hides problems. These problems can and should be solved in order to ultimately give yourself the opportunity to simply live, without envying or worrying unnecessarily, constantly feeling joy within yourself as an endless source of energy.

Searching for the meaning of life is one of the signs that not everything is in order. For a harmonious person, meaning appears on its own - from feelings, sensations and experiences. But inner harmony will not arise on its own. The basis for it can either be laid in childhood or developed in adulthood. The second option will require conscious effort.

In childhood, our emotions, desires and feelings are the most vivid and pure. During this period, the foundation of the entire future life is formed. However, during these years we are not independent: we depend on parents, loved ones, educators and older comrades. If a child was denied support and love, if he had no outlet, no outlet for negative emotions - and in childhood everything is very vivid, even pain - then such an onslaught on the child’s “I” will lead to the emergence of protective mechanisms of the psyche. A strong but unreal “I” is formed, with which the child hides from the world.

The real “I” remains lonely and unappreciated, which gives rise to many internal conflicts.

Having lost his “I” behind a bunch of masks, a person begins to prove in every possible way to himself and others the importance of his false, unreal self. At the same time, the real “I” remains lonely and unappreciated by anyone, which gives rise to many internal conflicts. Therefore, external success is often associated with severe internal pain. The problem is aggravated by the fact that even having subjugated those around him, creating a seemingly favorable environment around himself, a person with the true “I” driven inside will not be able to receive real feelings from others until he loves himself.

The ability to feel, love and accept yourself is the basis that allows you to subsequently love someone else and accept love from others. Without accepting ourselves, we block the source of our own feelings, replacing them with gray fakes. As a result, we destroy both our own personality and the personalities of those around us. At the same time, we feel pain all the time, but it is driven inside, and then makes us cause pain to others. This circle is endless, and there is only one way out of it - love.

To love means to allow yourself to be yourself. Remove false disguises, abandon the protection built over the years, accept your loved ones, find those who value you, and not your masks. Getting your love back is not an easy job. But the result is worth any effort. I suggest doing a body therapy exercise that will help you learn to respect and love yourself and your body. This is a practice based on Alexander Lowen's exercises.

1. START APPRECIATING YOUR BODY

Divide a piece of paper in half to create two columns. On one side, list 20 features that you appreciate in your body: long neck, strong shoulders, thick hair, good digestive system, strong arms, large breasts, good eyesight, excellent coordination, graceful fingers, etc. If you cannot list 20, write ten. If this is too much, then write five. And if it is difficult to list at least five, find at least two features (but no less). Once you've done this, in another column, add just one thing that you don't like about your body. Take a look at your list. And allow yourself to appreciate your body more than judge it.

2. EXHAUST NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

If you find it difficult to create such a list, make a positive statement about your body, even if it seems strange: for example, “I love my belly.” Then write down each counter-critical statement until you have exhausted all negative thoughts. Once you have done this, repeat the positive statement and try to add another one to it.

3. REDISCOW YOUR BODY

Close your eyes and carefully move your thoughts through your body from top to bottom and bottom to top. Is there a part that you skipped too quickly? Is there anything that you have rejected and not included in your body image? Is there an area that you are not feeling, perhaps without even knowing that you have rejected it? Is there anything you don't like and call disgusting or unpleasant? Pay attention to this area. Does it have a distinctive feature: color, sound, appearance, temperature, structure, density, tension or some other sensation?

4. FILL YOURSELF WITH LOVE

Now, with each breath, fill your heart with energy from any sacred source in which you believe. With each exhalation, send love from the heart to the rejected or insensitive area. Breathe until you notice changes. Do you feel like you have softened? Do you have compassion for yourself? Has the color, quality, image or feel of the rejected area changed? Try repeating the exercise every day for a week. To consolidate the results, it is advisable to do the exercise for 40 days without breaks.

Do you look at yourself in the mirror and are unhappy with how you look? Have you ever been told that you are beautiful, but you were skeptical? From time to time, do you feel that people around you give polite compliments about your appearance because they don’t want to upset you? Yes, this is exactly how those people who do not know how to love and appreciate their body think and feel.

Of course, not everyone is blessed with the ideal figure, but glossy magazines, society, friends and even family put pressure on you that a person must be the “right” shape, weight or size, otherwise they will not be accepted, approved or rejected. will be praised. Look at yourself in the mirror and try to accept your body with all its flaws. You don't have to go to extreme lengths to look like a supermodel or your favorite celebrity. Let's look at a few ways you can start loving your body.

● Adopt new role models

There are 7.5 billion people in the world - well, take the risk of finding yourself a role model among them, but only a real one, not an artificial one. Choose a role model based not only on appearance, but also on other human qualities. Remember that when you focus primarily on celebrities with edited looks, you have super-high expectations that are more likely to fail.

● Get rid of fitness and fashion magazines

All the models that are presented in these magazines are pure photoshop. In reality, some of them have fallen on hard times or suffer from eating disorders. They either don’t talk about it or don’t want to admit the difficulties for fear of losing their jobs. When you buy a fitness magazine, try to understand how the advertising works. Stop wasting your time reading “the best way to lose fat” or “how to lose 10 kg in a week.” Get all that junk out of sight and you'll feel better. This will be another step towards starting to love your body.

● Talk to someone

This doesn't mean you complain about your body - rather, you need to talk about how insecure you are about it. Your interlocutor may have a different opinion or view regarding your shape, or he may even share his own problems with you. When you say your “weak points” out loud, you practically get rid of them.

● Don't compare yourself to others

Otherwise, you will begin to maintain an inferiority complex in yourself, since the comparison will not be in your favor at all and will have a bad effect on your life. Regardless of the comparison results, you should know that life is not all about competition. We are all beautiful and beautiful in ourselves, and therefore we cannot consider ourselves worse, more unhappy and uglier than others. If you want to start loving and appreciating your body, stop focusing on others.

● Wear clothes that flatter your body.

Go shopping! Buy yourself outfits that visually enhance your figure. This will significantly boost your self-confidence! There is no point in squeezing into tight clothes to “shrink” yourself. And especially don’t hide behind huge and baggy clothes. Appreciate your body.

● Health is something that matters a lot

What is your health? Did your doctor tell you to immediately go on a diet and lose weight? If not, then there is nothing to worry about. Continue to enjoy life, but do not forget about proper nutrition and, of course, exercise. You need to love your body healthy, not exhausted, but adjusted to beauty standards.

● Make a list of things you like about yourself.

This will not be easy at first, since usually a person tends to focus solely on . You will hardly write down one or two points, or even nothing at all. However, return to this list again and again to remember your positive qualities and record them on paper. Each time it will be easier and easier for you. Whenever you need to lift your spirits, check out this list and perk up your spirit.

Remember that everyone is different, so accept yourself for who you are. You are a wonderful and unique person whose “flaws” make you unique and special. Love your body, no matter what others tell you. Never strive for unattainable standards. Be confident in yourself, and let no one and nothing shake this confidence.