Just recently, I found myself experiencing something that is rare for me these days, but used to be part of my every day experience — body hatred. I felt like I was emotionally picking on myself all day. My hair was never right, my clothes were never right, my face looked puffy, and I felt more out of shape than usual. No matter what I did I couldn’t seem to get back to the much happier place that I had come to know as normal.
Luckily, I was able to move through this experience by using two methods — one that I have used for years and one that is new to me, but both that I highly recommend.
This first method, free writing, is one that I love to use with Body Love Wellness clients. It’s a great way to detox your brain of negative thoughts or to connect with your internal truth and wisdom. Sometimes I ask clients to free write on a particular topic that comes up in our sessions, such as “good and bad food” or “being perfect” or “being thin.” Very often, clients get in touch with their beliefs through this process, and they’re then able to work with them or change them.
In my case, after a week or so of living with this uncomfortable (and yet familiar) feeling of body hatred, I decided to spend some time free writing on the topic of beauty. After a few pages, I wrote “since you can’t see it in yourself right now, start looking for beauty everywhere.”
Something about that advice resonated with me. This second method of seeing the beauty everywhere started to move me out of my feelings of ugliness. I started noticing beauty everywhere — in the stark early winter trees, in the crinkly fine skin of the elderly lady who sat next to me on the subway, in the way an older sister held her younger sister’s little backpack. I started to see beauty again hundreds of times over that day, and the next morning I felt like myself again.
It was incredibly simple, and, well, beautiful.
So this week, I would love for you to try either of these tips.
1) Take some time to free write, either without a topic or on a topic that’s troubling you. Let your mind go where it wants. Don’t worry about editing or puncuation. Just write!
2) Make it a point to see the beauty in your surroundings as you go about your day. Try this for one day (or even one minute) and notice any changes.
As always, please comment below!
Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness, a program designed for plus-sized women who are fed up with dieting and want support to stop obsessing about food and weight. To learn more about Golda and her work, click here.
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Agreed!
Free writing is an incredibly useful tool. Works for everything. :)