Two Easy Ways to Improve Your Self-Esteem & Change Your Life
I personally struggled with an eating disorder for many years in High School. It started when I was around the age of sixteen while living in a dysfunctional family situation. I used binging on foods and purging to maintain a sense of internal control over my chaotic environment. At my worst, I was doing this several times daily in my teenage years. In between these episodes, I hardly allowed myself to eat a single item with any nutritional value. The disorder left me emotionally and physically exhausted. I was depleted, swollen from fluid imbalance, desperate, and unhappy. Carbohydrates, sugars, and an inner need for peace were all triggers. Once I had a bite, the guilt was too heavy, so I just kept going and would often consume much more than the normal person could. I would then take relief in the bathroom and leave with bloodshot eyes and deep shame.
Many women share this story, and it took me long time to heal, as it does for everyone. There is hardly a single woman I know who does not look at their body and want to change something about it. We live in a society where it is accepted to think we are not enough, and lack of self-love is rampant. The best way to weaken the strongest group of people on the planet is to make them hate themselves through propaganda and massive advertisements from the time that they can understand English. The thought form that we are not good enough has been programmed into our subconscious from the time we are in the womb onward. Our mothers, commercials, books, and mass media all portray an image that distorts our view of reality of what we should look like.
This is an even greater concern for upcoming generations as a result of social media platforms and the high use of technology. I personally had to peel away a lot of levels and go deep into my subconscious to conquer the beast within. The Western approach of cognitive therapy and an antidepressant didn’t work for me. It was my deep dive into Spirit and Kundalini Yoga and Meditation that finally stopped the cycle and completely healed this disorder. The experience left me with a healthier approach to food, my body image, more balance, and a deep understanding of how hard it is to change our habits.
A teacher once said that ninety percent of women have eating disorders. I doubt that this statistic can be scientifically proven, but I personally agree. As a culture, women especially have an unhealthy relationship with food. We either consume too much or too little, and our identity to our weight and shape tends to be negative. Abraham Maslow made it clear that any individual who thinks he or she is hungry may be craving comfort, dependence, or vitamins. Food is interlocked with emotions, and eating healthy can create internal homeostasis. I want you to slowly peel back your layers so that you can shine your light.
Here are three different methods to heal your relationship with your body image that have worked for many women around the world.
#1 Use the following visualization tool: Visualize your dream body. It can be light, free, incredibly joyful, agile, flexible, healthy, or fun. Hold the vision as much as possible during the day, and consistently repeat self-affirming and positive words to yourself. Do it while walking, exercising, and cooking. This creates new neural pathways in your brain. Positive visualizations and personal mantras increase our self-worth and are proven ways to live a life without limits and full of health.
#2 Another way to begin to gain self-love and acceptance is staring at your body naked in the mirror for eleven minutes a day and praising yourself. Commit to do this for forty days and see the changes you will make!
#3 Self-blessing for Self-love as Taught by Yogi Bhajan
“Evaluate yourself for three minutes every morning and for five minutes every twilight. You will never miss anything which can serve you or bring you the best. It’s eight minutes of self-evaluation. Do it religiously. Evaluate yourself by blessing your head, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, teeth, throat, chest, arms and belly every morning. Just tell them, “Be with me and be nice.” In the evening for five minutes, bless your ten toes and fingers, earlobes and top of the ears. It’s an acupuncture. Bless every part of the ears and you’ll be a new person. You must evaluate and assess yourself. After blessing your body in the evening, bless your good deeds of the day. In the morning bless your good thoughts. Your environments, life, your power, projection and behavior will become the best. You have to bless every part of the body with touch. These are your friends. In the first three minutes, at the dawn of your consciousness, befriend your being physically, mentally, and spiritually. In the evening, befriend your being in detail. This you can teach a three-year-old.” –Yogi Bhajan
Practice for your family and your children: Every night before you go to bed, teach your children to love themselves by blessing their bodies and minds. Say out loud I bless my hands, I bless my heart, I bless my legs, and I bless my mouth, and have them repeat the action. Children learn by example. If you love yourself, they will love themselves. This action brings high self-esteem and self-concept to the children.
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Also watch this video for more details on all of this
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