So, You Don't Like What You're Seeing? What glasses or frames are you looking through?

Body Image really is a function what we're looking through, our eyes, those filters or windows on our world that we create from all the cultural, social, psychological, spiritual parts of our lives coloring our perceptions. Good News. You can shift this!

Our body image is an amalgam of perceptions from different parts of our being ~ a body, mind, heart and soul issue. Despite appearances, we are constantly creating and recreating our own reality, including our bodies — literally-- from our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and attitudes, and the cravings and neuro-chemicals these call up.

Good News! You can change this, starting from where you are, right in the now, with a little open-hearted recircling and re-viewing! There’s a gem inside, waiting to be discovered!

* Media and advertisers create arbitrary “standards” for what we women are supposed to look like, designed to make us feel disempowered, needing cosmetics and fashionable clothes to make us prettier, acceptable. Have we ever bought into this one, comparing and judging ourselves by what’s outside.

* Judging from where you stand…
The majority of us as women (some studies show up to 93%) have a negative body image. This is not just mental, it’s physio-chemical. We’re constantly creating and recreating our own reality, including our own bodies by the thoughts and emotions running through us. Our nervous systems are constantly secreting a lightning storm of chemicals in response to our thoughts and moods. So, your mind literally becomes your body. Watch the Movie “What the Bleep Do We Know” to learn more about this.

* The Biology of Belief and Molecules of Emotion Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton and Molecules of Emotion by Candice Pert are two excellent books that can also help us understand the science underlying how we create our own reality.

* Did you know that all the cells in our body are replaced every seven years?
Then how come we still look the same or worse year after year?. It’s our beliefs, attitudes and expectations-- including our emotions, judgments --that continually shape who we are, including our body. Our body is a mirror, a reflection of what’s inside.

* Yet, You KNOW You’re NOT That Body..
Your Body is a Vehicle, your vehicle carrying you through life, in some ways just like your car. But you know you are NOT that body, just like you are not your thoughts. You use them, experience them, but that’s not WHO You really are. You KNOW you’re not just that body, and you’re certainly not just a CONsumer, either. (Except that most of us have allowed ourselves to be CONNED into “Buy, Buy, Buy”).

* What about Your Other Bodies? Other Bodies?
Yes, your mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Body Image isn’t just physical, it’s a body, mind, heart, and soul issue. And it includes all the mix of perceptions, imagination, emotions and sensations that our own dynamic, personal family within us experiences on a daily basis.

* Your Body, Mind, Heart and Soul Family
Shifting the segmented scientific/medical/technical worldview that everything is a bunch of separate, machine-like parts -- like our brain and skeleton, our mind and emotions -- some quantum scientists have now discovered elements that undermine everything we’ve been told about how we are work and how the world works, shares meta-physician Lynn McTaggart, in the documentary “I AM” by Bruce Almighty Director, Tom Shadyck. We are more interconnected with ourselves (and each other) at a more fundamental level than people realize or previously thought.

* We all live in a giant quantum field.
We are, in fact, all connected, with very deep connections at a very deep level. This is the most profound discovery in all of physics. We are just at the point where technology and this narrative are beginning to come together. And it’s the same with our internal family members. Our mental body, emotional body, spirit/soul body are designed to be, supposed to be working together in harmony with our physical body. Ideally, that is. Yet most of us haven’t caught up with this new “unified field” view. To be whole again, we obviously have to “Re-member” Who We Are.

* Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
However, most of us aren’t really present with what is, either. We’re often oblivious, either operating from our memories or trying to live in the future, wishing things could be different. We write our own stories, based on our past experiences. We form conclusions, beliefs that become like the rebar/frame of the house/vehicle we live in. We build our plot, filling in the story line with the experiences we conjure up and manifest in our lives from our beliefs. This is the Law of Attraction in action.

* Are You Driving with Your REAR VIEW Mirror? Repeatedly we reinforce our cells with the same negative emotions that keep pounding our nervous system, upsetting and unbalancing our neurotransmitters, keeping us distracted and disconnected from ourselves. It’s like we’re on automatic pilot, letting the body run us; evidenced by those constant cravings for sweets and starches and/or obsessions about our weight and appearance.

* Our cells actually crave or call up neuro-chemicals that match our emotions. In our day-to-day lives, we attract the situations that will fulfill the biochemical cravings of our cells, the tiniest units of consciousness. This literally sets up and perpetuates spinning our wheels. It’s like driving backwards. The wheels keep spinning and the cycles keep repeating, over and over again, unless we take our foot off the gas.

* Who’s Driving this Bus? Who’s in Control?
Energy follows thought. Thought creates emotion. Emotion really is energy in motion. So, are your thoughts and emotions driving, running YOU? Or are You in charge? (You are, BTW, even if it doesn’t seem like it ) Cravings and compulsions are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually influenced, but in this frenzied, stressful world, they get locked into the physical by a relentless, fight or flight, sympathetic nervous system overdrive.

* We’re so caught up in this, we don’t even realize it most of the time. We can’t relax, we just keep busy running. And when we’re in this addictive, driven state, we’re also ironically desensitized. We’re NOT feeling. We’re not integrated. In fact, “fat” isn’t a feeling, it’s NOT feeling.

* Who's Doing the Talking?
When you’re glaring at yourself in the mirror, yelling at yourself for being such a (whatever), ask yourself, who’s doing the talking here? Your MIND or Your HEART? Don’t like what you see? Do you need new glasses? Open Your Heart and Re-View it. And instead of beating up on it, try Listening to Your Body. It’s got its own wisdom to guide you. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired, for starters.

* What Baloney are You Feeding Yourself?
Is it really about what you’re EATING? OR WHAT’s EATING YOU that’s more of the problem?

* Get Real. Be Honest with Yourself.
Look at a picture of your little self, when you were a small child. You were and STILL ARE a precious, darling of the universe. You are Unique, a one-of-a-kind gem (even if it seems like it’s buried now), with immense value and worth. It is your buried treasure. Start digging for it. …BTW, How ARE You Nourishing Yourself?

* REMEMBER, what you resist persists.
What you resist, you become. Fighting against and hating yourself, loathing your body only stimulates more neuro-chemicals that keep you spinning your wheels. When you realize this, it becomes much easier to understand why we’ve felt so stuck, why we keep repeating, recreating the same stuff over and over again. But then it also becomes pretty obvious that we’re the only ones who can change things for ourselves.

* The exciting thing is, we can change.
How? Decide to Be Response-able to and for yourself. Responsibility really is just the ability to respond. Making the decision to shift your thinking and perceptions is the biggest step. Changing what you’re feeding your mind and your body follows from that.

* So, What’s Your Disclaimer?
Every vehicle, every body comes with the option of a disclaimer in the contract. As humans we all have free will. But in this culture, it seems like no one, individual, company, or group, is willing to be accountable. It’s avoided like the plague, often subjugated with avoidance and/or blame. They’re actually ends of the spectrum, but the message usually boils down to the same: “We’re not responsible.” “I’m fat because… My genes make me fat. My family is all big boned. I hate my body, but it’s not my fault. Look at all the terrible food available. I’m too busy. It’s no use, I’m doomed to thunderthighs.” There are so many “reasons”. It’s so much easier to avoid or blame.

* Doing the AVOIDANCE.
We all know denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. Yea, I can hear you, groaning again. That’s okay. You are stronger than you think. Keep Reminding Yourself, Remembering to ask, “What do I want?” Of course, you can always close up, turn away and go pack it in again. How’s that been working for you? Have you been able to stop spinning your wheels (in whatever area of your life)? Ultimately, the situation’s going to persist until we let it up and out, look at it, feel it, recognize it, accept and appreciate that it’s trying to give us a message. Doing the Avoidance: avoidance and blame are really mirrors to each other.

* We do Create our own Reality.
And whatever you believe is true, for YOU. "Don’t confuse me with the facts; I’ve made up my mind." But there’s only so much backpedaling we can do. Eventually, what’s submerged resurfaces. So, might as well get real with yourself. Get real honest with yourself. Do you really want to see? What’s going on, or are you just looking for stuff that will reinforce your perspective???

* WHAT A PAIN.
Truth Hurts? We definitely have anywhere from an uncomfortable to a downright hate relationship with pain. We go to unbelievable lengths to avoid it. We hide from ourselves and others. We avoid going there almost at all cost-- unless the scale tips on the approach/ avoidance dynamic. Usually it’s called Avoidance.

* In this culture, we’re encouraged, programmed not to put up with pain -- even for a moment. Whether it’s aspirin or affirmations, we’re encouraged to get out of feeling pain and discomfort as fast as we possibly can, ASAP. And sometimes we’re even shamed, chastised or ostracized for paying any attention to it at all.

* Pain is Congestion. Congestion of thoughts, backed up emotions, waste products, accumulation of fear, creating inflammation. Bottomline, though, it’s not going to disappear just because you turn your back on it, push it down and suppress it in your emotional body, segregate yourself from it by putting up a wall of coldness or food or fatness against it. Or even command it to leave, like some spiritual groups adamantly maintain. How’s that been working for you? Is there really anyone or anything anywhere that can just wave a magic wand and wipe away your pain? Have you ever found this to be true? Even pain relievers are temporary.

* Your Body Can’t Send you an Email.
Pain has a purpose. Pain is an indicator, a sign that something is off track, out of whack, out of alignment. So, especially when it comes to chronic pain, it’s a pretty good tip off that there’s something going on needing attention in one or more of your other bodies — mental, emotional or spiritual. Like, for example, being in conflict or torn between what your mind and your heart wants to do. Or knowing that you really need to do something, but you’re too tired or unable to resist, so you give in, but suffer from guilt or anger as a result.

* Your Pain can be one of your Biggest Gifts and Treasures.
In fact, pain invariably holds the key to the source or seed of our distress or “dis-ease”. “Dis-ease” starts with and implies discomfort or dissension on other levels, the unseen ones, before precipitating out into the physical level. Pain, ironically, is often the key to finding the Pearl within the Oyster. Follow the Pain, Find the Pearl.

* Get Real. Be Honest. Bite the Bullet.
You probably are having emotions coming up from what’s being said. But hey, I’m just the messenger. That’s OK. YES! It’s OKAY! It’s okay to have and experience uncomfortable feelings. It’s the judging them or the stuffing them that usually hangs us up. It’s your choice, but if you can hang in here, and just BE with your discomfort right now, not resist it, until you can get the message it’s trying to send, it might help open a whole new window, new insights on your stuckness. Maybe even stop the spinning wheels. You might literally save yourself from getting locked into and buried under another loop of denial and disconnect.

* What’s the Payoff?
So, say you stretch and go out of your comfort zone and start trying to follow the discomfort to see what kind of buried treasure you can find. And say you don’t have much luck. It still persists. Could it be that somewhere in there you’re getting a big payoff for holding onto it. “WHAT? Are f----ng NUTS? Why would I do that?” some voice is saying. More of the cover up of the buried treasure?. Get Real. Ask yourself, What’s the payoff for me here? An excuse for a pity party?. A way to get others to feel sorry for me? Waiting for someone to rescue me? Not feeling worthy? Just plain stubborn refusal? Just be honest with yourself.

* Moving from Avoidance to Allowance: Re-View It.
Bottomline: The shortest way around it is through it. If we can back up and see pain from a larger angle, a bigger lens, find the pearl in the pain, it’s not as difficult to face and embrace. It doesn’t hurt as much. It’s often the fear of pain, the anticipation and/or the resistance to it that really amplifies it. Remember, pain is congestion.

* So, if you can be less afraid, attached, resistant to your own pain, able to flow with it, not take it so personally, and hang with it long enough to stop, listen, penetrate and get the message it’s screaming to communicate, it’s much easier to move through it so it can be transmuted back to source. Honestly, as unappealing as this sounds, as much as even I, as a counselor, have resisted going there, in all of my personal and professional experience, I have never found one other single way that works for permanently relieving pain other than facing and embracing and moving through it..

* Refusing to face and embrace what’s bugging us only prolongs the turmoil. It simply doesn’t go away by itself. Don’t know too many people, even professional experts, who are willing to call this one for what it is.

* Are You “Response-able”?
Making the commitment to get real and get down to the root of what’s eating us isn’t necessarily easy. Yet, it doesn’t have to be hard or insurmountable. It all depends upon our attitude about it. For example, if someone, (maybe even elsewhere in this article) says to you, “You need to be Responsible”, it could bring up some defensiveness and resistance. “What do you mean, I’m not responsible!?” etc.etc. But if you spell it and view it another way, like this: “Response-ability”, the word takes on a whole other meaning and energy.

“Responsibility” quite simply is “the Ability to Respond.” If you can see it in this way, and get yourself into a frame of mind to understand that you don’t have to do everything at once, you can take on and even accomplish what you want and need to do, with confidence and success, incrementally. Then whatever you have to do can be done. Not all at once, but gradually, incrementally, consistently, over time.

* Most of us can embrace a SHIFT INTO SMALL CHANGES CONSISTENTLY. Whether it’s changing eating or thinking patterns, how you deal with stress or even how you feel about your body, yourself, it is easier when you tackle it bit-by-bit, bite-by-bite.

* SHIFT happens.
This is a very special time on the planet. Things are shifting rapidly now on many levels, not all of which we can see or perceive. But, take it from one who’s been seeing it happen more and more, just making a decision to start may be both our biggest challenge and our best “magic starter” for getting things going. If you can trust that this is so, just DECIDE on whatever you want and start taking tiny steps in the direction of your goal, you are in line for a boatload of assistance in the process, from universal and spiritual levels; just part of the flow, the nature of the very changes that are going on on the planet now, as we speak.

* I’ll Believe It When I See It.
Actually, "You’ll See It When You Believe It", according to this great book by Dr. Wayne Dyer. Making a commitment to do anything puts a whole set of energetic and spiritual processes in motion. You may not be able to see or even know everything that’s happening now, but if you can just REMEMBER to SHIFT your thinking and actions, slowly and steadily, you will be creating a new momentum for yourself. And You WILL see the results manifesting in your life. Promise.

* Slow and steady wins the race?
Well, it's not really a race. You are Unique. There's nothing to compare. Everyone is on their own path, at their own pace. Comparison only complicates. But almost nothing's slow anymore. Now the pace has really accelerated. And we’re no longer alone. A lot of us are waking up to these changes and knowing that we are all helping each other.

* Expect Lightning Changes.
IT IS and DOES require a Leap of Faith. There's something here about being 100% committed that sets things in motion energetically. Until you do, ain't nothin happening. Once you do, watch how fast things go! And Remember, none of us is alone. We’re all quite literally in this Together. As more of us shift into Loving --Ourselves, Others, Life -- the faster change happens. It's a quantum thing.

* Ready to try? Test the waters, take the plunge and then SHIFT Into Gear. WE CAN Do It!

* Still Spinning Your Wheels? Try the Shift into RECIRCLING For REAL.

* What is RECIRCLING For REAL?
Reusing, Revisiting, Reviewing,
Returning to what’s REAL
and Remembering Who We Are.

Try the Three (Four) A’s:
Try these A’s, acronyms for the simple process of moving through difficult obstacles, pains, boulders in the path that keep us confused, confounded, slipping and spinning, instead of getting real traction, like when we're “Recircling for Real”.

* Acknowledge and become Aware *
* Accept and Own *
* Allow and then Appreciate *

Prerequisite: Get Real, Get into Now, Get Honest. Get Closer, Get Clear.
1. ACKNOWLEDGE, Become AWARE of what’s at the root of your pain by following it back to its origin, looking for the seed gem or pearl.
2. ACCEPT what is. Accept the things you can’t change, change the things you can.
3. ALLOW yourself to be okay with this and OWN it. ALLOW others to do what they will. This gets us ¾’s of the way through it. Close the circle when you can:
4. APPRECIATE why it was there, bless it, release it, and then enjoy the Re-View, the New View. And then let your new awareness Re-New Yourself.

* Be a “Present” to Yourself. Get into the Now.
While our old stuck story is usually rooted in the past, there really is only NOW. And that’s literally the only place where we can make changes for ourselves. When we consciously interrupt the old pathways, we become aware, break the cycle and give ourselves a reset.

* You can reset your parasympathetic nervous system, experience being more calm and balanced with this simple breathing exercise every morning before you kick yourself into overdrive with that first cup o’ java:

Sit up with feet flat on the floor. Breathe in for 7 counts. Hold for 7 counts. Breathe out for 7 counts. Hold for 7 counts before you start the cycle again. Do this for 7 times. See how much calmer, more grounded you feel right away.

* What You See IS What you Get.
Whatever you focus on, or put your energy into, you get more of. This is just the way things work. And it works whether we’re talking about food or fatitude. The more you eat, the more you want, for instance. Salt or sugar, junk food or healthy food. Negative thoughts or empowering ones.

* Don’t think so? Try eating just one potato chip or drinking a can of soda. Both are examples of what many of us food pros call “addictive food technology.” Researchers at the University of Georgia demonstrated that the “corn sugar” or high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten carbonated beverages tends to set up a “forward feeding” response, stimulating the hormone that signals hunger and suppressing the hormone that tells you you’ve eaten.

* FAT isn’t a four letter word, CARB is.
Fat doesn’t make you fat, Carbs do. It’s all those high glycemic starchy, sugary carbohydrates like cake, bread, pastas, snacks and sodas that create those roller coaster blood sugar levels. This wears down the pancreas and stresses the adrenal glands to produce that cortisol-induced, rubber tire belly fat. I've discussed this topic at length, including how critical your digestion is to your immunity and health in my Nourishment Guide and Cookbook, Truly Cultured. www.TrulyCultured.com

* GMO’s. Arguments from the corn growers’ aside, there’s more than just one potential problem with high fructose corn syrup. Currently an average of 85% of the commercial corn and soybeans in this country are genetically modified, often signified by GMO, for containing or using Genetically Modified Organisms. If you want to learn more about this subject, find associate Jeffery Smith’s intensive investigation of the subject of GMO’s in his latest book, Genetic Roulette. http://seedsofdeception.com/books/genetic-roulette

These are just a few facets of all the mix of things going on in our Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul existence.

* SO, WHAT DO YOU WANT?
But the bottom line still remains: Focus on what you WANT, not on what you don’t. If you want to be thinner, spend your time and energy re-envisioning yourself as you’d like to be, instead of hating and beating yourself up for how you look now.

* Stimulate good vibrations, new hormones and a new view on your world
by giving yourself a break, a little empathy and compassion. Yes, you heard that right. Give yourself some empathy, like you’d extend a heart or hand to a close friend. Change it up, interrupt your old momentum.

* Love yourself for all the learning and good stuff you are doing.
Try rewarding yourself with something other than food, like a hot bath, a movie or a walk in the woods. Appreciate what you do have going for you. The fastest way to get feeling better about yourself is to be grateful for what you have.

* And, incidentally, Gratitude beats Fatitude!
Try repeating this simple phrase from the ancient Hawaiian practice of Ho’Oponopono.
It works! Google Dr. Hew Len and hear the story of how this Hawaiian physician, working only with himself using this prayer and the medical records of criminally-insane mental patients, produced miraculous results. He never even saw or talked with any of these patients, yet, every one of them was healed and released.

* I Love You. I’m Sorry. Please Forgive Me. Thank You. *

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RECIRCLING For REAL
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Visit us at www.TrulyCultured.com and
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Comments or Questions? Contact me: Nancy@TrulyCultured.com


Read More, including excerpts from this, Nancy Lee's original "Straight Talk" article, in: "Bad Body Image? 15 Ways To Improve Your Self Esteem", EXPERT | featuring advice by YourTango Experts, Linda DiBella & Nancy Lee Bentley, www.YourTango.com.