Body Image

There is a beautiful diversity in body type and shapes but instead of embracing and accepting all, each society, culture, or even family group down through the ages has had a 'favourite' or more acceptable one.  And if you fall outside this perceived 'normal' it may be that you feel inferior have low self esteem, or feel unworthy, etc.  If you are healthy and fit and yet still do suffer from these feelings, it may be a case of exploring the root cause of these feelings and whether they are actually valid.

There are also instances which may cause a person to have an unhealthy relationship with food causing them to consume too much or not enough for their body type resulting in imbalances or unpleasant symptoms of health issues.  It is this aspect which may benefit from some exploration to locate the root cause. 

Cravings which are not physiological in nature may be caused by any number of triggers such as boredom, sadness, grief, frustration, etc, although we may not recognise the connection.  For example there have been cases where a person may start craving a certain food and realised that it was a favourite food they shared with a friend/relative who is no longer around and it was a subconscious way of keeping connected to the memory.  Another example may be if your mum gave you a chocolate bar every time you were upset this may be the first thing you reach for when you feel those feelings later on in life.

Negative beliefs around your size are often unconscious, or so familiar that you don't question the validity of them.  "You'll always be big like your Mum"  "I hate exercise" "I'm not good enough (stupid, worthless, ugly unloveable, greedy, unkind, selfish, etc)"  The list is endless and usually not true, although if we believe it to be true we will subconsciously make it come true.  To erase negative self-fulfilling beliefs about yourself and rewrite your 'script', it is necessary to investigate the level beyond awareness, the place that holds your history and memories, especially those that were stressful and unpleasant and the conclusions you arrived to about yourself in an attempt to come to terms with those events.  When you were a young child you decided whether you were good, smart, loveable and capable or bad, dumb, or a loser or destined to be a certain body shape, eat a lot, love or hate exercise and even how you process emotions by starving or binge-eating to suppress them.  You put those beliefs into your subconscious as the 'truth' and live by them.

Family commandments or rules you make for yourself are one such category.  Such as if you eat a piece of chocolate cake you may as well eat as much as you can because you have already blown it; - or if you eat a piece of chocolate cake you have to fast for the rest of the day;  in our family we always eat everything put on the plate; or it is rude to turn down any food offered to us by someone.  It is interesting to explore whether these 'rules' are true and valid for you.

Self sabotage may stop you from reaching any goal, and again the reasons are varied.  Perhaps you sent through a relationship break up when you were at your healthiest and fittest so each time you approach a similar state you may start to feel those old emotions of unprocessed rejection, sadness, grief, etc and subconsciously self-sabotage so you stay away from that state as it is too emotionally uncomfortable.  Or if your friends refer to healthy fit people in a derogatory way then subconsciously you may self-sabotage and not allow yourself to become fit and healthy as you don't want to be judged and rejected by your friends.

Affirmation tail-enders.  We often wonder why our affirmations don't work.  We may have notes pasted on our mirror and all around our home and work space, but no matter how many times we say the affirmation to force a desired outcome we never reach it.  It may be possible that it is an unrealistic goal but it is often because of what we call a 'tail-ender' we are not consciously aware of.  An affirmation such as "I will only choose healthful food from now on" may have a tail-ender of "yeah!  Sure!  You never last beyond two days" although we may not be consciously aware of this.  

The good news is that it is possible to discover what is holding you back from being your healthiest, fittest self and rewrite your script and rules so they truly benefit you and your future.  Please read on or feel free to get in touch so we can explore this challenge together.