Therapist Korinne Bouwhuis visited the show to talk about how to be happy in your body.
1. Build Awareness of Social Psychology and Cultural Body Biases
-Research has sadly but repeatedly shown that an 'attractive' person is automatically judged as being more confident, competent, intelligent, and more positively perceived in almost every way. What flows from that line of thinking is also the reverse, 'If I don`t look like that, I`m not as capable or as good as a person.' We need to remember the barrage of images we compare ourselves to often are more artificial than real.
2. 'Friend in the Head'
-Many women talk to themselves in horribly cruel ways when it comes to their appearance and body. They would never listen to a friend saying those things about herself without putting a stop to it. Similarly, the same women would never consider anyone who talked to them that way as a friend. We need to correct this. Give attention to traits and aspects of your appearance you do like. Make sure positives outweigh negatives 'upstairs.'
3. Approach 'Improvement' Efforts from a Place of Positive Self-Care or Not at All
-If you can`t work out, pursue health goals, or participate in image-changing efforts from a place of positivity (i.e., 'I`m worth it,' or 'This is a gift to me'), it`s best not to do them at all. You will undermine your own efforts if, in the process of pursuing beauty, you reinforce your own negative view of your worth (i.e., 'I must do this because I`m so fat and ugly.' Or 'I am unacceptable the way I am.')
4. Turn off Comparison Games with Purposeful and Present Living
-Have purpose and goals in the activities you do. Am I here to make memories? Who do I really want to connect to or reach out to? How do I want to challenge myself in this setting? Crowd out obsessive body comparison games with more important aspects of the experience you could be having, if you weren`t so distracted by body image insecurities.
5. Choose Meaningful, Lasting Sources of Self-Identity and Worth
-Beauty based on the exterior, societal standards of beauty will leave us all with age. We may choose to devote our very existence to defying the aging process, at which point we will likely have lost our inner beauty of character. Build inner beauty to enhance exterior beauty. Happy, positive, grateful people generally age better.
6. Celebrate the Body for the Life, not the Life for the Body
-Love your body for the life you get to enjoy in it. What do you love to do? What experiences or moments make life the most meaningful? Think through your 5 senses and some things you really enjoy in each of those areas. For example, I am a smell person and make some foods just for the aroma they give my house. Once you`ve found these things, treasure your physical being by treating it to those sensations.
To contact Korinne or find more information go tokbtherapyutah.com
