31: How to Have a Healthy Body Image

<p>We all, especially women, have struggled with body image, at least one time in our lives. The media and society at large do not make having a healthy body image easy. I want to highlight the fact that if we took all the mental energy people spend on thinking about, obsessing over and criticizing their bodies, and shifted it into thinking about how we could serve the world, change the world and solve big problems, imagine how different the world would be. If you are expending a lot of your own mental energy focusing on how you look rather than on how you feel and what you want to contribute, consider re-directing it.  In my 20’s I was never diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia but I definitely would say I had body image issues. I possibly had body dysmorphia, which is when your obsession with how you look and what you eat gets in the way of your happiness and your ability to connect. I don’t think I saw myself accurately. I was working as a personal trainer and nutritionist, so I was super obsessed about what I ate and I possibly had exercise bulimia too. If I ate “bad”, I would be driven to tears with guilt. This went on for a few years until some major things shifted. It finally subsided when I committed to the type of personal and spiritual growth work I teach on this show. I focused more on working out and body image than I did on really diving in and doing the work. I also dealt with feeling out of control in my life. I had left my job and I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life. I had a huge expectation hangover in terms of where I thought I “should be”. I had so much uncertainty. That is when I started a meditation practice and that really helps me to feel more settled and more present. The out of control feeling comes from when our mind is just going and going and we are future tripping all the time. That led me to create a much stronger spiritual practice and relationship with God. I was so self-obsessed I felt very, very separate. I didn’t have a strong spiritual connection to begin with but the mo