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Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 5: Complete Your Whole

Spending years in fitting rooms has taught me one very bitter fact: women see their bodies through peep holes. Their vision is distorted seeing not full humans in their reflections, but disembodied thighs, bottoms, underarms, and stomachs. 
its-not-what-you-are-that-holds-you-back-its-what-you-think-youre-not
You are not a jiggle of flesh, you are not a patch of cellulite, you are not a wrinkle.  You are a soul: a body, a spirit, a living thing.  Embrace yourself as a whole rather than a random assembly of raw materials.  Don’t leave the entire sedan in the garage because of a scratch in the door panel.  Get out and enjoy the ride.

Day 5 Challenge: Look at your full reflection, inside and out.  Admire the curation that is you.
Post your holistic epiphanies in the comments, 
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Body ♥ Love Challenge Day 4: Talk Back to Negative Thoughts

Your brain is a synaptic subway where information glides along the rails of thought.  Whatever thoughts passage the most attention, most frequently, subsequently become express trains.   If you are consistently disembarking at a dismal destination, its time to lay new rails in your organic abacus. 

Some of us have a rather pernicious psychological pilot barking connections between ourselves and less than fetching adjectives.  And while I am a gentle pacifist at heart, there are times for a quick, quieting Boo, Whore, which this inner mean girl needs to ear.  Following is the modus operandi for talking back to your negative thoughts.

1.  Prerequisite to talking back to your thoughts is listening to your internal dialogue. Set a timer for every 15 minutes and quickly assess what you’ve been thinking.  Or choose an activity you do frequently as a thought check stimulus.  For me, every time I change a diaper, I inventory my mental refuse.  

be-nice-to-yourself

2.  Once you’ve added conscious to the unconscious side of the conversation, prepare your comebacks.  Positive affirmations are reform school for your snotty self talk.  Proper mental repartee begins with a personal pronoun, Me, I, My; is clear and brief; describes the present tense.  Examples could include: I adore my soft, rosy cheeks.  I own strong bones.  My fluffy bottom is deliciously soft to sit on.  My thighs fill out pencil skirts delightfully well. I am grateful for my cuddly, inviting lap.

print, push a pen across it, then post upon your mirror 

3.  Once your paths are mapped, it is time to derail negative thought trains onto positive mind travels.  Pronounce your affirmations now and often. Declare them aloud to your reflection, retort negative thoughts as they arise.  Affirmations are most effective when repeated, repeatedly.  Persevere and soon enough you’ll be alighting at station body adoration.

4 Challenge: Make a list of at least 5 positive statements about yourself.  Post them on your mirror, repeat aloud daily,  then refer to them every time you have a negative thought about yourself.

Post your positive affirmations in the comments
feel free to link to blogs, instagram, pinterest, flicker, or other sources