Frame of Mind

Happy New Year! Just another cross-over post from I Am in Shape, ROUND is a Shape (roundshape.wordpress.com/2009/…)

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Commercials this month ramming diets/pills/CHANGE down our resolution-y geared minds are trying to capitalize on negative self-image  tendencies with a high-pitched fervor; reminding me why I don't watch so much TV unless it is taped and therefore I am able to fast forward past commercials desperate to remind me how much I am not a perfect model of perfect-mac-perfectson.

So, in an effort to maintain the happy mental high of the holiday season I guess you could say I HAVE made a resolution; but it is a simple one and more a reminder of what I already knew and practiced: Don't watch TV commercials.  Simple.  Easy.  Saves so many Sanity Watcher points so that I can instead read scathing articles and blogs about the disgrace of fat around the world instead of ads purporting to be my friend by finding flaw with all of my attributes.  Hmmm…maybe I'll avoid those articles too and save ALL of my sanity, instead of whittling it away point by point.

Who needs to read that they are never going to be good enough/thin enough/well enough? And has anyone else noticed that more and more often any weight-loss scheme/diet/"lifestyle change" is not proposing a specific "healthy" weight to attain, merely that no matter WHO you are or what weight your body might rest at; losing 10% of your weight is going to be beneficial?

Any ad or negative anti-fat or anti-self acceptance article/blog seems to flourish best when spouting just how inadequate we are at managing our own lives and bodies.  What about appreciating how good/well we already ARE?  How about switching that focus from "NOT enough" to "Look at just HOW much!"  Perhaps this is just an innocent idea stemming from someone who has spent life always having to find that silver lining in the financially strained lull between pay-checks; always having to smile at what WAS going right in between all that was going wrong; but I don't think that starting the new year by focusing on what is WRONG with your life or your body is a good mentality with which to ring in the year.

Don't start this year with a negative frame of mind, thinking that focusing on what is BAD will somehow encourage any of the positive changes you seek.  That is only setting yourself up for further disappointment down the road; especially if any resolution you HAVE made falls through.

I've always been a "Glass half-full" woman myself and that is likely where this advice comes from but I say that as this year gets back into its usual swing, take a moment to reflect on what is going WELL in life and work on finding ways to CONTINUE those trends.  Perhaps it would even lead to the same sorts of behaviors or activities that focusing on the bad would lead you to adopt/continue; but the difference will be in how mentally happy you are while approaching them.

Being happy and kind to the parts of your life and body that you love already is an fantastic step towards getting closer to self-acceptance at any size or shape.  Just my few pennies of "wisdom" on this first day back to the full swing of the daily grind.