Comparing your own body to a naked celebrity on a magazine cover can make you depressed enough to run straight to the fridge to eat a full pint of ice cream. (It did to me, just now.) That is, unless you change your perspective. In this post, I'm going to share an "aha" moment with you I had while reading Huffington Post's article, "The Hottest Nude Magazine Covers, Hands Down."
In this blog, I share insights and epiphanies on how to be happier. I call the creation of happiness in your life The Art of Aha. So, let's explore how that relates to your body image and overall health.
For the past two weeks, my 16-year-old nephew's been visiting me here in Asheville, North Carolina. He said while eating junk food, "I'll probably get cancer," to which I said, "Why on Earth would you create that for yourself? Tell your body something else while you're eating junk food. Geez." It made him pause and I got a teenage nod of approval (which everyone knows is rare).
But don't we all tell ourself negative things when we see celebrity photos? I was looking at 33 amazing nude photos of celebrities this morning. That's what everyone should do while drinking their morning coffee: Look at 33 hot naked celebs on magazine covers. (Kidding.) Every image (even the men) caused me to compare their bodies to mine.
Flat stomach. (Hmm. Me, not so much.)
Nice skin. (Blip. Not as nice as theirs.)
Muscles. (Dang. Not like hers.)
Tattoos. (Even his is nicer than mine.)
No wonder I started to think about naughty food in my kitchen in which I could drown my body sorrows. I caught myself. Then I shifted what I was thinking. Then, I wrote this blog entry to share my epiphany with you so you can shift to happiness too while viewing hot celebs in your media feeds.
Her stomach is nice. (I'm working on mine.)
Skin. (Well, I did do a green mask yesterday.)
Muscles. (I have been keeping up with my workouts.)
Tattoos. (I did have that cover-up done and it is pretty.)
You can't control the body you were given at birth. However, you can control the thoughts you have about your body. Just for today, take a look at some naked celebrities and find things you love about your body matching theirs.
This is the secret to feeling good about yourself: catching yourself when you're thinking negative things about yourself and impacting that. In a second, you can alter your perception. Best of all, every thought provides a fresh moment to transform how you feel about yourself; especially when you're comparing yourself to the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce or Adam Levine (be sure to scroll down and check out that spread if you've not see it. Hot!) Even if you do eat that pint of ice cream, tomorrow, you can workout -- just like those celebrities do.
Tell me how you're going to upgrade your internal thoughts as you view your favorite celebs. Maybe someone else will upgrade their body image based on what you share.
How do you get your "aha" moments every day? Check back here as I explore how we create instead of react to life.