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A Battered Body Image, Part II: Ideas for Not Missing Out

By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
Associate Editor

Having a “fat day,” not finding something flattering to wear or outright hating our bodies has made us miss out on many things. We’ve …
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4 Comments to
“A Battered Body Image, Part II: Ideas for Not Missing Out”

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Stephanie Vincent 12:42 pm on November 16th, 2009

I find if i just notice “the inner critic” and clearly see it as a seperate entity…then it shuts up

Here is a meditation I just found today that can help us to seperate out “true selves” from all the other stuff!

A Survival Mediation
by Nathan Walker

breathing in
i am aware of my pain.
breathing out
i am aware that i am not my pain.

breathing in
i am aware of my past.
breathing out
i am aware that i am not my past.

breathing in
i am aware of my anger.
breathing out
i am aware that i am not my anger.

breathing in
i am aware of my despair.
breathing out
i am aware that i am not my despair.

breathing in
i am aware of peace.
breathing out
i am aware that i am worthy of peace.

breathing in
i am aware of love.
breathing out
i am aware that i am worthy of love.

breathing in
i am aware of joy.
breathing out
i am aware that i am an agent of joy.

breathing in
i am aware of hope.
breathing out
i am aware that i am an agent of hope.

breathing in
i am aware.

So here is my addition….

Breathing in I am aware of the inner critic
breathing out I am aware that the inner critic is not me.

Margarita Tartakovsky, MS 9:29 am on November 17th, 2009

Stephanie, wow, this is excellent! Thanks so much for posting this. I think it’ll be helpful to many. I find it tough to just be, without thinking about my to-do list or everything else But it’s so worth it.

Tee 1:10 pm on November 19th, 2009

Stephanie – I love that poem! Margarita – great post, and, as you know, very close to us. I went through a long period in the 90s “staying in,” both literally and figuratively. What a shame.

Margarita Tartakovsky, MS 6:31 pm on November 19th, 2009

Thanks so much, Tee! It sucks to think about what could’ve been but the important thing is to move forward and learn from it. Instead of wishing I was more confident before, I’m just going to be extra confident now It’s tough to do for many of us, especially when negative thoughts creep in so easily. But as soon as my inner critic cries out, I quickly try to gain perspective and tell her to shut it