Your attitude will control your life. Attitudes are the secret power working twenty-four hours a day for good or bad. Your attitude is 100% of everything you do. It guides you, and makes decisions for you and is a reflection of your belief system.
It is also an indicator about how you feel about yourself. It can knock you down so low that you believe it's what you deserve and where you belong, or, on the other hand, the way you feel about yourself can build self-confidence and a positive body image propelling you to a higher level of self-esteem. The choice is always yours. But how can you change your attitude to one of high self-esteem and a good body image regardless of your current weight?
Allow your self-image to be one of self-love and self-importance without being arrogant. Unlock your potential and create healthy, winning attitudes. Be who you truly want to be. Your personal mission is a statement of who you will be and what you will do to make it your reality.
Eat well. When you nourish your body, you nourish your mind, and what you feel on the inside, you'll show on the outside. Food with little or no nourishment will steal your energy and not allow you to be your best while nourishing food will always make you feel and act stronger and in control.
Exercise often. Exercise will make you powerful both mentally and physically. It will improve your endurance and allow you to feel confident to handle stress in your life in a constructive manner.
Listen to unsolicited comments from others. There is a wealth of information in these comments. Keep a log of unsolicited ones and every time you hear a new one, write it down. A picture will begin to form. It may be a picture you want to change or a picture you want to embrace and own. It may even be a picture of which you are not aware. You'll find some people make comments from their own insecurities or jealousy. Consider the source of the comments before you give them your attention.
Wear special-occasion clothes every day, and you'll feel special. When you make yourself feel special, you are special and you treat yourself so. It only matters what you think! You decide what goes in your body and on it. The unsolicited comments and compliments may give you a general picture, but you control the paintbrush in your picture. You can continue to create new images throughout each cycle of your life.
Learning the attitude of acceptance will free you. Change what you can, accept what you can't, and always realize the difference between the two.
Look in the mirror and see what is really there and not what you perceive. You may need the help of others to discern your reality.
Many years ago I attended a seminar. We were asked to break into pairs and tell our partner the one aspect of our body we could not change and must accept. I immediately pointed to the large, dark freckle on the side of my nose. My partner replied, "What large freckle?", to which I admitted that I cover it each day with extra make-up to dull it's appearance, but it's there, as I pointed to the right side of my nose. She pulled a mirror out of her purse and asked me to show her this large, dark freckle. To my amazement, there was no freckle, and I wondered out loud, "Where did my freckle go?"
When I was a young girl I had a freckle the size of the side of my nose and was teased about it by other children. Every day of my adult life I covered it with make-up because in my mind, I saw the freckle in my reflection in the mirror. At sometime it disappeared, yet I continued to see it each day. It took someone else to point out to me that I had what I had always wanted, a freckle-free nose.
Often people lose weight but never change their body image and attitude about themselves. In their mind's eye and in the mirror, they continue to see the old image. It is vital to acknowledge, accept, and embrace the new image and attitude you now possess.
Change your clothing style along your journey. Choose items that allow you to continue on and as your clothes become too big, release them. They are no longer for you, as was the heavy makeup I used on my freckle.
It is the attitude of well-being that will allow you to keep your new size, image, and improved health. It is this attitude that will carry you throughout your life-long journey.