Self-acceptance and body love can be tough concepts to grasp and even tougher to incorporate. The degree of difficulty doesn't seem to matter if you're thin or very large or somewhere in-between. It takes time and persistence to create a new belief about one's self and one's body. Don't worry so much about losing your old beliefs about yourself. Instead, take the time to build new beliefs.

In a way, building self acceptance and body acceptance are a little like creating a homemade tapered candle. You start with only the wick. The wick represents your desire to create something new. You begin by dipping the wick into a vat of wax, pull it out and wait for it to dry, and continue the process over and over again until the candle is perfectly formed. The same with self-acceptance. If you currently hate your body, your body parts, and/or yourself, it's time to begin somewhere. At first, you might not notice much change. Yet with each new thought that is consciously entered into the mind, we can create new beliefs and a new sense of self-acceptance. Like the gradual layering of the wax upon the wick, we can create positive, self-loving thoughts that begin to take hold and form shape.

Make Peace with Yourself

Don't believe everything you think. Start thinking from your heart instead of your head. Allow your heart to be in control and believe it over your mind. Your heart is kind and loving and wishes to receive love into itself. Open your heart. Flow this love deep into your body. Imagine yourself drinking deeply, taking this love in, digesting and absorbing all this love into your own physical body.

Look in the Mirror

Make the bold move to have heartfelt generosity for your body. Hear your objections and then . . . surrender. Take a moment in the mirror to stop and consciously be grateful for the gift of your body. Concentrate on your wealth! Look at everything you have - tangible or intangible - and feel grateful for your wealth. Feel good about your body today and it will become easier to eat healthy. Show up in front of the mirror with an idea you are really wanting. Allow yourself to be clear that it is the feeling you are really wanting, not just the better body.

Live In The Now

When you are waiting for something to occur, you are not focused on what is occurring now. Yes, it is wonderful to be excited by the expectancy of achieving your goals. It is wonderful to feel the excitement fill your body as you imagine having what you want. But then it is necessary to bring your joy back into the present time of now. Ask yourself how you can bring fullness into this moment. What could you focus on to enhance this moment of now? What is there in this moment to feel gratitude for?

Accept What Is

For most people, accepting their current physical body is the last thing they want to consider. How can you accept something you wish to change or something you hate? The immediate reaction is to make the present situation go away. To escape from it. But there is no escape from anything. What we resist persists. Only by allowing reality and embracing it can we then create something new. The only way out is through. The way to achieve the body you want is to first be in harmony with it. The body is not your enemy. The body loves you and simply reflects the energy within. Accept what is without resistance. Ask yourself (with gentleness), "What are the feelings within me that have created this situation?" All along, soothe yourself with a wisdom that reassures you are now creating an opportunity to know more about your heart, to know more about love.

Mind over Matter

Negative self-talk is destructive to your happiness and your goals. We are all human and almost everyone's body has some perceived flaws or imperfections. Yet our flaws make us unique.

To love our body we must begin somewhere. Even if that beginning is a lie, we must begin. In the group AA (Alcoholic's Anonymous) there is a saying, "Fake it until you make it." Meaning, say and do the behaviors you wish to embody until they become real. This takes courage, responsibility and risk. And yet, if you never begin, if you never risk, you will never know the divine truth of who you really are.

Treat Your Body Well

When we understand and appreciate our bodies, we are able to work with them, not against them. Learn to be in loving acceptance of your own beauty. Allow for the possibility that you deserve what you have requested, and you deserve to know and appreciate who you are. Imagine your life as you incorporate more and more self-loving aspects:

Be attracted to what lifts you up. Let go of what pulls you down.

Consciously seek out more experiences that feel good.

Focus your eyes on what is larger more than on what is smaller.

Laugh so hard tears come from your eyes.

Dance and sing with wild abandon while listening to your favorite song.

Tell yourself you are beautiful.

Swing on a swing in the playground.

Mail yourself a love letter.

Clean out your closet and get rid of any clothes that don't fit you.

Wear clothes that fit you, and that you feel good in.

Develop a partnership with food.

Fall in love with yourself.

Dr. Annette Colby, RD
Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Healer
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