*Quick! Name three of the worst things you see when you look in the mirror. Now, ask yourself how you got the idea that the body parts you named as “worst” are, in fact, bad. You were not born thinking your arms were supposed to be more toned, your abs more six-pack, your thighs firm, your belly completely flat, your chin more prominent, your eyes further apart, your nose smaller, your butt bigger, your fingers longer, your shoulders less round, your chest bigger, your toes less stubby, your knees less knocky, your elbows less pointy, your hair straighter.  You did not wake up from a nap one day when you were a baby and say to your mom, “These diapers make me look fat.” So, I dare you to: Challenge yourself to understand that your beliefs about what you’re supposed to look like were fed to you by people whose aim it is to make you aspire to unattainable perfection so that you feel better about buying their products or by subgroups within your culture who are trying to keep you suppressed and “moldable”.  Fact is, reflections in your mirror are exactly as they should be. And the true lens just requires a bit of self-challenge to find the things within yourself to feel whole and beautiful in who you are as you are, right now. (Which, by the way, won’t cost you a dime!) *In honor of National Organization of Women’s Love Your Body Day 2011.

*Quick! Name three of the worst things you see when you look in the mirror.

Now, ask yourself how you got the idea that the body parts you named as “worst” are, in fact, bad.

You were not born thinking your arms were supposed to be more toned, your abs more six-pack, your thighs firm, your belly completely flat, your chin more prominent, your eyes further apart, your nose smaller, your butt bigger, your fingers longer, your shoulders less round, your chest bigger, your toes less stubby, your knees less knocky, your elbows less pointy, your hair straighter. 

You did not wake up from a nap one day when you were a baby and say to your mom, “These diapers make me look fat.”

So, I dare you to:

Challenge yourself to understand that your beliefs about what you’re supposed to look like were fed to you by people whose aim it is to make you aspire to unattainable perfection so that you feel better about buying their products or by subgroups within your culture who are trying to keep you suppressed and “moldable”. 

Fact is, reflections in your mirror are exactly as they should be. And the true lens just requires a bit of self-challenge to find the things within yourself to feel whole and beautiful in who you are as you are, right now. (Which, by the way, won’t cost you a dime!)

*In honor of National Organization of Women’s Love Your Body Day 2011.