Let 'Em

Let others love you.  If they compliment you, give to you, or sacrifice for you, learn to say "thank you."  Loving yourself and allowing others to love you go hand in hand; one makes the other easier and vice versa.  Don't fall into the pit of being desperate for the love of others but stop turning it down.  Let others love you.

"Love covers over a multitude of sins" I Peter 4:8b

Get a Check Up!

Get a check-up!  That's a great first step towards you taking care of your body.  You see, the media has the focus all wrong.  If you focus on how you look outwardly, you may get skinny but lose your health.  If we focus on our health, we will have the fringe benefits of getting to a more comfortable weight, clearer skin, regularity [:-)], and better overall satisfaction.  When we're not letting our health lead us, we're in danger of doing harm to our body. 

BUT don't move from being consumed with being skinny to being consumed with being healthy.  Do not focus on perfection but only to get better.  An obsession with health can rob you as well.  The goal is to start to let your body work for you so that it doesn't keep you from living your life.  Doing good things for your body makes your body feel good.  When your body feels good, so do you!

So...get a check-up so you can find out areas of your health you will begin to improve in.  Don't worry, it'll be fun!  You'll be encouraged when you experience how good just that one step makes you feel!

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and life to come."  I Timothy 4:8

What are the other steps we can take to make our bodies feel good?  However big or small, share with us!

Make Your Own Magic

Weeds are naturally occurring, while beautiful flowers take hard work.  The entrance of a poor self/body image is a weed.  It's inevitable and constant.  Flowers and trees require planting.  We've spent the past couple of weeks pulling weeds but now I'd like us to plant some good into our minds.  Good thoughts just don't magically pop up and stay on your mind the way bad thoughts do.  If we chose not to be intentional at all about what we focus our mind on, our natural tendency would be to lean towards bad thoughts.  If you want to think good thoughts about yourself everyday, you need to go out, find the positive thoughts you want, meditate on them, and repeat.  Don't wait around for it to magically come to you.  Be proactive (no, I am not advertising an acne solution) and meditate on good.  Here's my formula this particular good:  GOOD = TRUTH + FAITH.  Seek truth and be encouraged by it!  Even if the truth is that you may be obese (not by your standards, but by doctors' standards), it's still good because you know where you're starting from and you can have faith in your ability to begin living healthier.  This week, find the good in you and the world around you and then focus your mind on it!  By doing this, we're practicing positivity, also known as forward thinking.  Let's move forward!  Next week, we'll move into physical wellness...
  
"Finally, brothers [and sisters], whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  Philippians 4:8


Do you agree with my proposed formula of good?  If not, share your own definition!  Then based on your accepted definition of good, what are some of the "goods" you will be intentionally meditating on this week?

You're No Exception to Your Rule

Last week, we were able to regain control of a definition of the type of beauty most important to us.  Great work!  This week, we're going to focus on allowing others to have control of their definition of beauty.  Let's face it, we (or maybe it's just me) can size up a girl's beauty the second we meet her.  Regardless of whether or not we allow our assessment to affect how we will treat her, we have none the less made a physical assessment.  Wouldn't it be nice to walk into a room and not pass judgment?  It really is possible and is a worthy goal to have.  Here's why.  The way we judge people's appearances is the same way we will continue to judge ourselves; it almost becomes an involuntary action.  Your brain is programmed to automatically criticize peoples' flaws and it isn't programmed to exclude you.  So as you judge the appearances of others, you're further strangling yourself in your own constant criticism.  That makes it extremely difficult for you to care for yourself because you're constantly devaluing yourself. 

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  Matthew 7:1-2


So here's what I suggest doing, start with increasing your awareness of how much and how quickly you judge others, and see where it takes you.  In fact, let's help each other out.  For the application portion this week, comment on the blog by giving at least one action/practice that you think can help others to stop judging or even to judge less.  It could be something that has worked well for you in the past or an idea that randomly came to you that you think might be beneficial.  See you in the comment section!

Beauty as Defined by You

Welcome to our first step towards a healthy body image.  If you asked 10 different people what they thought beauty really was, you would get 10 different responses.  That statement is true because as we all know from the 'ol saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."  What you find beautiful in others, your friend may not even qualify as being worth mentioning and that's okay.   The only dilemma is you rarely recognize yourself as the beholder with the eye for beauty.  You may not even have thought about what it means to be beautiful because you've been trying to meet other people's definition.  So to start of, this week, I would like you to reflect and share about what you think beauty truly is.  That way, you'll begin to see beauty as defined by you.

 "You're beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless"  Songs of Solomon 4:7 (The Message)