My First Steps to a Better Body Image

It feels good to have finally started this blog, this quest. But I'm unsure of how to proceed. Here are my ideas so far, what do you think?

In my quest for a better body image, I could start by:

-Implementing some suggestions people have made over the years - like 'don't look in any mirrors for a while it'll make you less body conscious'

-Trying some techniques I remember from books e.g. choose a body part and do nice things for it like Neck - buy perfume, lovingly rub in cream every day, adorn it with beautiful necklaces

-Trying an affirmation for a body confidence - saying and writing it often through the day

-Asking my hypnotherapist friend H for some sessions, and supplementing with self hypnosis CDs and/or scripts she recommends

-Trying EFT techniques to tap away my negative body image

-Exploring (and writing about) my specific issues to define and understand the problem

-Interview friends and family to discover their body image issues and any tips they have for a better body image

-Surveying strangers through netmums, British Mummy Bloggers and other female online networks

-Googling body image, body confidence, love your body and other phrases to see what paths and techniques I can unearth

All of the above seem like good ideas and I think I'll do them all. But I need to prioritise. Writing that list helped me to get clear on the possibilities, and I know that more ideas will come once I put some of the above into action.

I'd like to do one simple thing that I can start to do NOW without any more thought or any preparation PLUS I'm keen to do keep investigating the problem of women's negative body image and usefule resources. As well as this being a quest for myself I would love to discover ways you can help yourself to love your body too.

Oh, and I'd like to improve my appearance too. You know, the usual stuff - lose weight, tone up, keep wrinkles at bay, improve my complexion...etc etc but I want to do these things from a place of 'loving myself and looking after myself' rather than 'fixing myself because I'm not good enough the way I am'. So, I'll only do things I enjoy and that are fairly easy for me.

Looking better can be part of feeling better - but I want the focus to be on how to feel better as I know how hard it can be to change your appearance (for me read 'lose weight') when your mind is constantly whispering 'you're too fat, you can't shift it now you're stuck at this size' and so on. So instead of weight loss I want to focus on doing things to look after my body better, to be more loving to myself.

So - where to start? Have you any ideas? Please let me know...

BTW I would also like to feature guest posts on body confidence and body image. Please email me if you'd like to contribute annacolette@gmail.com