Tuesday Tidbits: The "FEEL GOOD" Edition

A lot of people (and I don't exclude myself here) struggle with self image. This is too big and another thing is too small. I believe that women are more prone do put themselves down, but men do it just as much, but don't speak as openly about it.


In the high fashion, glam cover world of magazines things are going pretty bananas these days. Some celebrities don't even look like themselves anymore, as much as their bodies are getting smoothed out in a computer program. This is especially troublesome, because most of the celebrities on magazine covers are beautiful to start with, no matter what age they are and how many children they gave birth to. But being beautiful doesn't seem to be enough anymore... You obviously have to look like plastic these days to be put on a cover.


So, when I saw these before and after photoshopped pictures from Britney Spears, I thought that it was a gutsy move from her side... And she certainly set herself apart from all the plastic drones* and stood up for herself and her body.


*I do wonder, if the celebs agree to the amounts of electronic adjustments done to their pictures or if they signed that right away with the contract....

Because we all do have things that we don't like about ourselves, we need to learn how to focus on the things we DO like about ourselves and the things in our life that are good and beautiful... Here are my "feel good" tidbits for today:

• when the sun is shining, a nice breeze is blowing, you are sitting in the car with the windows down and a song that you haven't heard in a long time is on the radio e.g. Fastball - The Way... works every time for me
• sitting down at a BBQ with friends after a day of hustle and bustle and running errands... look around into smiling faces and open a bottle of beer
• I think my hands are awesome, because they can do stuff and hold on to stuff... like my handle bars on the bike.... kudos also goes to my feet, that get me from A to B without CO2 emissions... 
• my family... they drive me crazy sometimes... exactly the way people should that care about you! sometimes it's tough to be so far away from them, but then I have to remind myself, that...
• phones, internet and air travel is available today as readily as never before and fairly cheap on top of that... the world is growing together and it's not scary at all
• when I stumble over an inspirational story
• food, good food.... healthy food and the occasional unhealthy food
• the rare moments when I feel like my life is balanced
• when I leave the hair salon
• shopping with a girl friend and finding a pair of jeans that just fit
• finishing a long workout with the feeling of accomplishment
• that I can see my abs... it's not a six pack or a four pack... but I can see them and even more, I can feel how strong they are holding my upright
• getting back my health assessment results and scoring very high
  

(I just notice how little those feel good tidbits have to do with outside appearance... I guess it just doesn't matter so much in the long run!)


And if you need some inspiration to be able to focus on your own beauty rather than a photoshopped magazine cover... Check in with Operation Beautiful!


So long! ;-)